How then can it be looked upon as anything but most infamous, that when Alexandrian Jews, of the lowest rank, had always been previously beaten with the rods, suited to freemen and citizens, if ever they were convicted of having done anything worthy of stripes, yet now the very rulers of the nation, the council of the elders, who derived their very titles from the honour in which they were held and the offices which they filled, should, in this respect, be treated with more indig- 78 PHILO JUDiEUS.
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irity than their own servants, like the lowest of the Egyptian rustics, even when found guilty of the very worst of crimes? I omit to mention, that even if they had committed the most countless iniquities, nevertheless the governor ought, out of respect for the season, to have delayed their punishment; for with all rulers, who govern any state on constitutional prin- ciples, and who do not seek to acquire a character for audacity, but who do really honour their benefactors, it is the custom to punish no one, even of those who have been lawfully con- demned, until the famous festival and assembly, in honour of the birth-day of the illustrious emperor, has passed. But he committed this violation of the laws at the very season of this festival, and punished men who had done no wrong; though certainly, if he ever determined to punish them, he ought to have done so at a subsequent time; but he hastened, and would admit of no delay, by reason of his eagerness to please the multitude who was opposed to them, thinking that in this way he should be able, more easily, to gain them over to the objects which he had in view.
I have known instances before now of men who had been crucified when this festival and holiday was at hand, being taken down and given up to their relations, in order to receive the honours of sepulture, and to enjoy such observances as are due to the dead; for it used to be considered, that even the dead ou^ht to derive some enjoyment from the natal festival of a good emperor, and also that the sacred character of the festival ought to be regarded. But this man did not order men who had already perished on crosses to be taken down, but he commanded living men to be crucified, men to whom the very time itself gave, if not entire forgiveness, still, at all events, a brief and temporary respite from punishment; and he did this after they had been beaten by scourgings in the middle of the theatre; and after he had tortured them with fire and sword; and the speciacle of their sufferings was divided; for the first part of the exhibition lasted from the morning to the third or fourth hour, in which the Jews were scourged, were hung up, were tortured on the wheel, were con- demned, and were dragged to execution through the middle of the orchestra; and after this beautiful exhibition came the dancers, and the buffoons, and the flute-players, and all the other diversions of the theatrical contests.
AGAINST FLACCUS. 79 XI. And why do I dwell on these things? for a second mode of barbarity was afterwards devised against us, because the governor wished to excite the whole multitude of the army against us, in accordance with the contrivance of some foreign informer. Now the information which was laid against the nation was, that the Jews had entire suits of armour in their houses; therefore, having sent for a centurion, in whom he placed the greatest confidence, by name Castor, he ordered him to take with him the boldest soldier of his own band, to go with haste, and, without saying a word to any one, to enter the houses of the Jews, and to search them, and see whether there was any store of arms laid up in them; and he ran with great speed to perform the commands which had been given him. But they, having no suspicion of his intentions, stood at first speechless with astonishment, their wives and their children clinging to them, and shedding abundance of tears, because of their fear of being carried into captivity, for they were in continual expectation of that, looking upon it as all that was wanting to complete their total misery. But when they heard from some of those who were sent to make the search an inquiry as to where they had laid up their arms, they breathed awhile, and opening all their secret recesses displayed everything which they had, being partly delighted and partly grieving; delighted at the opportunity of repelling the false accusation which was thus brought against them by its own character, but indignant, in the first place, because calumnies of such a nature, when concocted and urged against them by their enemies, wTere believed beforehand; and, secondly, because their wives, who were shut up, and who did not actually come forth out of their inner chambers, and their virgins, who were kept in the strictest privacy, shunning the eyes of men, even of those who were their nearest relations, out of modesty, were now alarmed by being displayed to the public gaze, not only of persons who were no relations to them, but even of common soldiers.
Nevertheless, though a most rigorous examination took place, how great a quantity of defensive and offensive armour do vou think was found? Helmets, and breast-plates, and shields, and daggers, and javelins, and weapons of every description, were brought out and piled up in heaps; and also how great a variety of missile weapons, javelins, slings, bows, and darts?
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Absolutely not a single thing of the kind; scarcely even knives sufficient for the daily use of the cooks to prepare and dress the food. From which circumstance, the simplicity of their daily manner of life was plainly seen: as they made no. pretence to magnificence or delicate luxury; the nature of which things is to engender satiety, and satiety is apt to engender insolence, which is the beginning of all evils.
And indeed it was not a long time before that, that the arms had been taken away from the Egyptians throughout the whole country by a man of the name of Bassus, to whom Flaccus had committed this employment. But at that time one might have beheld a great fleet of ships sailing down and anchor- ing in the harbours afforded by the mouths of the river, full of arms of every possible description, and numerous beasts of burden loaded with bags made of skins sewn together and hanging like panniers on each side so as to balance better, and also almost all the waggons belonging to the camp filled with weapons of every sort, whicn were brought in rows so as to be all seen at once, and arranged together in order. And the distance between the harbour and the armoury in the kings palace in which the arms were commanded to be deposited was about ten stadia; it was then very proper to investigate the houses of the men who had amassed such quantities of arms; for as they had often actually revolted, they were naturally liable to be suspected of designing revolutionary measures, and it was quite fitting that, in imitation of the sacred games, those who had superintended the collection of the arms should keep a new triennial festival in Egypt, in order that they might not again be collected without any one being aware of it, or else that at all events only a few might be collected instead of a great number, from the people not having time enough to assemble any great number.
But why were we to be exposed to any treatment of the sort? For when were we ever suspected of any tendency to revolt? And when did we bear any other than a most peaceful charac- ter among all men? And the habits in which we daily and habitually indulge, are they not irreproachable, tending to the lawful tranquillity and stability of the state? In. fact, if the Jews had had arms in their houses, would they have submitted to be stripped of aoove four hundred dwellings, out of which they were turned and forcibly expelled by those who plundered AGAINST FLACCUS. 81 them of all their properties? Why then was not this search made in the houses of those people who had arms, if not of their own private property, at all events such as they had car- ried off from others?
The truth is, as I have said already, the whole business was a deliberate contrivance designed by the cruelty of Flaccus and of the multitude, in which even women were included; for they were dragged away as captives, not only in the market- place, but even in the middle of the theatre, and dragged upon the stage on any false accusation that might be brought against them with the most painful and intolerable insults; and then, when it was found that they were of another race, they were dismissed; for they apprehended many women as Jewesses who were not so, from want of making any careful or accurate investigation. And if they appeared to belong to our nation, then those who, instead of spectators, became tyrants and mas- ters, laid cruel commands on them, bringing them swine's flesh, and enjoining them to eat it Accordingly, all wl^o were wrought on by fear of punishment to eat it were released without suffering any ill treatment; but those who were more obstinate were given up to the tormentors to suffer intole- rable tortures, which is the clearest of all possible proofs that they had committed no offence whatever beyond what I have mentioned.
XII. But it was not out of his own head alone, but also because of the commands and in consequence of the situation of the emperor that he sought and devised means to injure and oppress us; for after we had decreed by our votes and carried out by our actions all the honours to the emperor Caius, which were either within our power or allowable by our laws, we brought the decree to him, entreating him that, as it was not permitted to us to send an embassy ourselves to bear it to the emperor, he would vouchsafe to forward it himself. And, after he had read all the articles contained in the decree, and having often nodded his head in token of his approbation of them, smiling, and being very much delighted, or else pretending to be pleased, he said: " I approve of you very greatly in all things, for your piety and loyalty, and I will forward it as you request, or else I myself will act the part of your ambassador, that Caius may be aware of your gratitude. And I myself will bear witness in your favour to all that I know of the VOL. IV G 82 PHILO JUDiEUS.
orderly disposition and obedient character of your nation, with- out exaggerating anything; for truth is the most sufficient of all panegyrics."
At these promises we were greatly delighted, and we gave him thanks, hoping that the decree would be thoroughly read and appreciated by Caius. And indeed it was natural enough, since all the things that are promptly and carefully sent by the lieutenant-governors are read and examined without delay by you; but Flaccus, wholly neglecting all our hopes, and all his own words, and all his own promises, retained the decree, in order that you, above all the men under the sun, might be looked upon as enemies to the emperor.
Was not this the conduct of one who had been vigilant afar off, and who had long been contriving his design against us, and who was not now yielding to some momentary impulse, and attacking us on a sudden without any previous contrivance with unreasonable impetuosity, being led away by some fresh motive? But God, as it seems, he who has a care for all human affairs, scattered his flattering speeches cunningly devised to mislead the emperor, and baffled the counsels of his lawless disposition and the manoeuvres which he was em- ploying, taking pity on us, and very soon he brought matters into such a train that Flaccus was disappointed of his hopes.
For when Agrippa, the king, came into the country, we set before him all the designs which Flaccus had entertained against us; and he set himself to rectify the business, and, having promised to forward the decree to the emperor, he taking it, as we hear, did send it, accompanied with a defence relating to the time at which it was passed, showing that it was not lately only that we had learnt to venerate the family of our benefactors, but that we had from the very first beginning shown our zeal towards them, though we had been deprived of the opportunity of making any seasonable demonstration of it by the insolence of our governor. And after these events justice, the constant champion and ally of those who are injured, and the punisher of everything impious, whether it be action or man, began to labour to work his overthrow. For at first they endured the most unexampled insults and miseries, such as had never happened under any other of our governors, ever since the house of Augustus first acquired the dominion over earth and sea; for some men of those who, in the time of AGAINST FLACCUS. 83 AGAINST FLACCUS. 83 Tiberius, and of Caesar his father, had the government, seeking to convert their governorship and viceroyalty into a sovereignty and tyranny, filled all the country with intolerable evils, with corruption, and rapine, and condemnation of persons who had done no wrong, and with banishment and exile of such innocent men, and with the slaughter of the nobles without a trial; and then, after the appointed period of their government had expired, when they returned to Rome, the emperors exacted of them an account and relation of all that they had done, especially if by chance the cities which they had been oppressing sent any embassy to complain; for then the emperors, behaving like impartial judges, listening both to the accusers and to the defendant on equal terms, not thinking it right to pre-judge and pre-condemn anyone before his trial, decided without being influenced either by enmity or favour, but according to the nature of truth, and pronouncing such a judgment as seemed to be just. But in the case of Flaccus, that justice which hates iniquity did not wait till the term of his government had expired, but went forward to meet him before the usual time, being indignant at the immoderate extravagance of his lawless iniquity.
XIII. And the manner in which, he was cut short in his tyranny was as follows. He imagined that Cuius was already made favourable to him in respect of those matters, about which suspicion was sought to be raised against him, partly by his letters which were full of flattery, and partly by the harangues which he was continually addressing to the people, in which he courted the emperor by stringing together flattering sentences and long series of cunningly imagined panegyrics, and partly too because he was very highly thought of by the greater part of the city. But he was deceiving himself without knowing it; for the hopes of wicked men are unstable, as they guess what is more favourable to them while they suffer what is quite contrary to it, as in fact they deserve.
For Bassus, the centurion, was sent from Italy by the appointment of Caius with the company of soldiers which he commanded. And having embarked on board one of the fastest sailing vessels, he arrived in a few days at the harbour of Alexandria, off the island of Pharos, about evening; and he ordered the captain of the ship to keep out in the open sea till G 2 84 PHILO JUD.43US.
sunset, intending to enter the city unexpectedly, in order that Flaccus might not be aware of his coming beforehand, and so be led to adopt any violent measures, and render the service which he was commanded to perform fruitless.
And when the evening came, the ship entered the harbour, and Bassus, disembarking with his own soldiers, advanced, neither recognizing nor being recognized by any one; and on his road finding a soldier who was one of the quaternions of the guard, he ordered him to show him the house of his captain; for he wished to communicate his secret errand to him, that, if he required additional force, he might have an assistant ready. And when he heard that he was supping at some person's house in company with Flaccus, he did not relax in his speed, but hastened onward to the dwelling of his entertainer; for the man with whom they were feasting was Stephanion, one of the freedmen of Tiberius Caesar; and withdrawing to a short distance, he sends forward one of his own followers to recon- noitre, disguising him like a servant in order that no one might notice him or perceive what was going forward. So he, entering in to the banqueting-room, as if he were the servant of one of the guests, examined everything accurately, and then returned and gave information to Bassus. And he, when he had learnt the unguarded condition of the entrances, and the small number of the people who were with Flaccus (for he was attended by not more than ten or fifteen slaves to wait upon him), gave the signal to his soldiers whom he had with him, and hastened forward, and entered suddenly into the supper- room, he and the soldiers with him, who stood by with their swords girded on, and surrounded Flaccus before he was aware of it, for at the moment of their entrance he was drinking health with some one, and making merry with those who were present.
But when Bassus had made his way into the midst, the moment that he saw him he became dumb with amazement and consternation, and wishing to rise up he saw the guards all round him, and then he perceived his fate, even before he heard what Caius wanted with him, and what commands had been given to those who had come, and what he was about to endure, for the mind of man is very prompt at perceiving at once all those particulars which take a long time to happen, and at hearing them all together. Accordingly, every one of AGAINST FLACCUS. 85 those who were of this supper party rose up, being through fear unnerved, and shuddering lest some punishment might be affixed to the mere fact of having been supping with the culprit, for it was not safe to flee, nor indeed was it possible to do so, since all the entrances were already occupied. So Flaccus w£s led away by the soldiers at the command of Bassus, this being the manner in which he returned from the banquet, for it was fitting that justice should begin to visit him at a feast, because he had deprived the houses of innumerable innocent men of all festivity.
XIV. This was the unexampled misfortune which befell Flaccus in the country of which he was governor, being taken prisoner like an enemy on account of the Jews, as it appears to me, whom he had determined to destroy utterly in his desire for glory. And a manifest proof of this is to be found in the time of his arrest, for it was the general festival of the Jews at the time of the autumnal equinox, during which it is the custom of the Jews to live in tents; but none of the usual customs at this festival were carried out at all, since all the rulers of the people were still oppressed by irremediable and intolerable injuries and insults, and since the common people looked upon the miseries of their chiefs as the common calamity of the whole nation, and were also depressed beyond measure at the individual afflictions to which they were each of them sepa- rately exposed, for griefs are redoubled when they happen at the times of festival, when those who are afflicted are unable to keep the feast, both by reason of the deprivation of their mirthful cheerfulness, which a general assembly requires, and also from the presence of sorrow by which they were now over- come, without being able to find any remedy for such terrible disasters.
And while they were yielding to excessive sorrow, and feel- ing overwhelmed by most severe anguish, and they were all collected in their houses at the approach of night, some persons came in to inform them of the apprehension of the governor which had then taken place. And they thought that this was to try them, and was not the truth, and were grieved all the more from thinking themselves mobbed, and that a snare was thus laid for them; but when a tumult arose through the city, and the guards of the night began to run about to and fro, and when some of the cavalry were heard to be galloping with the 86 PH1L0 JUDJEUS.
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utmost speed and with all energy to the camp and from the camp, some of them, being excited by the strangeness of the event, went forth from their houses to inquire what had happened, for it was plain that something strange had occurred. And when they heard of the arrest that had taken place, and that Flaccus was now within the toils, stretching up their bands to heaven, they sang a hymn, and began a song of praise to God, who presides over all the affairs of men, saying, " We are not delighted, 0 Master, at the punishment of our enemy, being taught by the sacred laws to submit to all the vicissi- tudes of human life, but we justly give thanks to thee, who hast had mercy and compassion upon us, and who hast thus relieved our continual and incessant oppressions."
And when they had spent the whole night in hymns and songs, they poured out through the gates at the earliest dawu, and hastened to the nearest point of the shore, for they had been deprived of their usual places for prayer, and standing in a clear and open space, they cried out, " O most mighty King of all mortal and immortal beings, we have come to offer thanks unto thee, to invoke earth and sea, and the air and the heaven, and all the parts of the universe, and the whole world in which alone we dwell, being driven out by men and robbed of every- thing else in the world, and being deprive 1 of our eitw and of all the buildings both private and public within the city, and being made houseless and homeless by the treachery of our governor, the only men in the world who are so treated. You suggest to us favourable hopes of the setting straight of what is left to us, beginning to consent to our prayers, inasmuch as you have on a sudden thrown down the common enemy of our nation, the author and cause of all our calamities, exulting in pride, and trusting that he would gain credit by such means, before he was removed to a distance from us, in order that those who were evilly afflicted might not feel their joy impaired by learning it only by report, but you have chastised him while he was so near, almost as we may say before the eyes of those whom he oppressed, in order to give us a more distinct per- ception of the end which has fallen upon him in a short time beyond our hopes."
XV. And besides what I have spoken of there is also a third thing, which appears to me to have taken place by the interposition of divine providence; for after he had set sail at AGAINST FLACCUS. 87 the beginning of winter, for it was rightly ordained that he should have his fill of the dangers of the sea, inasmuch as he had filled all the elements of the universe with his impieties, after suffering innumerable hardships he with difficulty got safely to Italy, and the moment that he had arrived there he was pursued by accusations which were brought against him, and which were brought before two of his greatest enemies, Isidorus and Lampo, who a little while before were in the position of subjects to him, calling him their master, and bene- factor, and saviour, and names of that sort, but who now were his adversaries, and that too displaying a power not only equal to but far superior to his own, not merely from the confidence which men feel in the justice of their cause, but, what was a matter of great moment, because they saw that the Judge of all human affairs was his irreconcileable enemy, being about now to take upon himself the form of a judge from a prudent determination not to appear to condemn any one beforehand unheard, and not to act the part of an enemy, who before hearing either accusation or defence, has already condemned the defendant in his mind, and has sentenced him to the most severe punishments. But nothing is so terrible as for men who have been the more powerful to be accused by their inferiors, and for those who have been rulers to be impeached by their former subjects, which is as if masters were being prosecuted by their natural or purchased slaves.