FLACCUS

 I. (1) Flaccus Avillius succeeded Sejanus in his hatred of and hostile designs against the Jewish nation. He was not, indeed, able to injure the whole

 II. (6) Perhaps some one may say here: Do you then, my good man, you who have determined to accuse this man, bring no accusation whatever against him

 III. (8) For having received a government which was intended to last six years, for the first five years, while Tiberius Caesar was alive, he both pre

 IV. (16) When, therefore, Flaccus learnt that he too was put to death, he utterly abandoned all other hope for the future, and was no longer able to a

 V. (25) Moreover, some occurrences of the following description increased that folly and insolence of his which was derived from instruction rather th

 VI. (36) There was a certain madman named Carabbas, afflicted not with a wild, savage, and dangerous madness (for that comes on in fits without being

 VII. (44) But he, for he was eagerly cooperating in all that was being done amiss, thought fit to use his superior power to face the seditious tumult

 VIII. (53) Since, therefore, the attempt which was being made to violate the law appeared to him to be prospering, while he was destroying the synagog

 IX. (58) And though these were evils sufficiently intolerable, yet nevertheless they appear actually trifling when compared with those which were subs

 X. (73) But after Flaccus had broken through every right, and trampled upon every principle of justice, and had left no portion of the Jews free from

 XI. (86) 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 t

 XII. (97) 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

 XIII. (108) And the manner in which he was cut short in his tyranny was as follows. He imagined that Gaius was already made favourable to him in respe

 XIV. (116) This was the unexampled misfortune which befell Flaccus in the country of which he was governor, being taken prisoner like an enemy on acco

 XV. (125) 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 provid

 XVI. (128) And yet even this in my opinion was a lighter evil when compared with another which was greater still for it was not people who were merel

 XVII. (135) Such, then, was the character of Lampo, who was now one of the accusers of Flaccus. And Isidorus was in no respect inferior to him in wick

 XVIII. (146) I have related these events at some length, not for the sake of keeping old injuries in remembrance, but because I admire that power who

 XIX. (154) And after he had crossed the Ionian Gulf he sailed up the sea which leads to Corinth, being a spectacle to all the cities in Peloponnesus w

 XX. (166) With such discourses as these, he was continaully being cast down, and in a manner, as I may say, prostrated and avoiding all places where

 XXI. (180) While repeating these things over and over again and writhing with his agony, he awaited the end of his destiny, and his uninterrupted sorr

V. (25) Moreover, some occurrences of the following description increased that folly and insolence of his which was derived from instruction rather than from nature. Gaius Caesar gave Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the king, the third part of his paternal inheritance as a sovereignty, which Philip the tetrarch, who was his uncle on his father's side, had previously enjoyed. (26) And when he was about to set out to take possession of his kingdom, Gaius advised him to avoid the voyage from Brundusium to Syria, which was a long and troublesome one, and rather to take the shorter one by Alexandria, and to wait for the periodical winds; for he said that the merchant vessels which set forth from that harbour were fast sailers, and that the pilots were most experienced men, who guided their ships like skilful coachmen guide their horses, keeping them straight in the proper course. And he took his advice, looking upon him both as his master and also as a giver of good counsel. (27) Accordingly, going down to Dicaearchia, and seeing some Alexandrian vessels in the harbour, looking all ready and fit to put to sea, he embarked with his followers, and had a fair voyage, and so a few days afterwards he arrived at his journey's end, unforeseen and unexpected, having commanded the captains of his vessels (for he came in sight of Pharos about twilight in the evening) to furl their sails, and to keep a short distance out of sight in the open sea, until it became late in the evening and dark, and then at night he entered the port, that when he disembarked he might find all the citizens buried in sleep, and so, without any one seeing him, he might arrive at the house of the man who was to be his entertainer. (28) With so much modesty then did this man arrive, wishing if it were possible to enter without being perceived by any one in the city. For he had not come to see Alexandria, since he had sojourned in it before, when he was preparing to take his voyage to Rome to see Tiberius, but he desired at this time to take the quickest road, so as to arrive at his destination with the smallest possible delay. (29) But the men of Alexandria being ready to burst with envy and ill-will (for the Egyptian disposition is by nature a most jealous and envious one and inclined to look on the good fortune of others as adversity to itself), and being at the same time filled with an ancient and what I may in a manner call an innate enmity towards the Jews, were indignant at any one's becoming a king of the Jews, no less than if each individual among them had been deprived of an ancestral kingdom of his own inheritance. (30) And then again his friends and companions came and stirred up the miserable Flaccus, inviting, and exciting, and stimulating him to feel the same envy with themselves; saying, "The arrival of this man to take upon him his government is equivalent to a deposition of yourself. He is invested with a greater dignity of honour and glory than you. He attracts all eyes towards himself when they see the array of sentinels and bodyguards around him adorned with silvered and gilded arms. (31) For ought he to have come into the presence of another governor, when it was in his power to have sailed over the sea, and so to have arrived in safety at his own government? For, indeed, if Gaius did advise or rather command him to do so, he ought rather with earnest solicitations to have deprecated any visit to this country, in order that the real governor of it might not be brought into disrepute and appear to have his authority lessened by being apparently disregarded." (32) When he heard this he was more indignant than before, and in public indeed he pretended to be his companion and his friend, because of his fear of the man who directed his course, but secretly he bore him much ill-will, and told every one how he hated him, and abused him behind his back, and insulted him indirectly, since he did not dare to do so openly; (33) for he encouraged the idle and lazy mob of the city (and the mob of Alexandria is one accustomed to great license of speech, and one which delights above measure in calumny and evil-speaking), to abuse the king, either beginning to revile him in his own person, or else exhorting and exciting others to do so by the agency of persons who were accustomed to serve him in business of this kind. (34) And they, having had the cue given them, spent all their days reviling the king in the public schools, and stringing together all sorts of gibes to turn him into ridicule. And at times they employed poets who compose farces, and managers of puppet shows, displaying their natural aptitude for every kind of disgraceful employment, though they were very slow at learning anything that was creditable, but very acute, and quick, and ready at learning anything of an opposite nature. (35) For why did he not show his indignation, why did he not commit them to prison, why did he not chastise them for their insolent and disloyal evil speaking? And even if he had not been a king but only one of the household of Caesar, ought he not to have had some privileges and especial honours? The fact is that all these circumstances are an undeniable evidence that Flaccus was a participator in all this abuse; for he who might have punished it with the most extreme severity, and entirely checked it, and who yet took no steps to restrain it, was clearly convicted of having permitted and encouraged it; but whenever an ungoverned multitude begins a course of evil doing it never desists, but proceeds from one wickedness to another, continually doing some monstrous thing.