(39) Seeds of the War sown under the last of the Procurators. Rise of the Sicarii
Felix
A.D. 52-60
After this Claudius sent out Felix, the brother of Pallas,[[236]] as procurator of Judæa, Samaria, Galilee and Peræa. Agrippa he transferred from Chalcis to a larger kingdom, assigning to him Philip’s former province, namely Batanæa, Trachonitis and Gaulanitis; to this he added the kingdom of Lysanias and the province[[237]] which had belonged to Varus. After holding the imperial office for thirteen years, eight months and twenty days, Claudius died, |A.D. 54| leaving Nero as his successor in the government....
Nero annexed to Agrippa’s kingdom four cities with their districts,[[238]] namely, Abila, Julias in Peræa, and in Galilee Tarichæa and Tiberias. He appointed Felix to be procurator of the rest of Judæa. Felix took prisoner Eleazar, the arch-brigand who for twenty years had ravaged the country, with many of his associates, and sent them for trial to Rome. Of the brigands whom he crucified, and of the common people who were detected of complicity with them and punished by him, the number was incalculable.
Rise of the Sicarii
But, while the country was thus cleared of these pests, a new species of banditti was springing up in Jerusalem, the so-called Sicarii,[[239]] who committed murders in broad daylight in the heart of the city. The festivals were their special seasons, when they would mingle with the crowd, carrying short daggers concealed under their clothing, with which they stabbed any with whom they were at enmity. Then, when they fell, the murderers joined in the cries of indignation and, through this plausible behaviour, were never discovered. The first to be assassinated by them was Jonathan the high priest; after his death there were numerous daily murders. The panic created was more alarming than the calamity itself; every one, as on the battlefield, hourly expecting death. Men kept watch at a distance on their enemies and would not trust even their friends when they approached. Yet, with their suspicions aroused and on their guard, they were slain; so swift were the conspirators and so crafty in eluding detection.
Troubled State of the Country
Besides these there arose another body of villains, with purer hands but more impious intentions, who no less than the assassins ruined the peace of the city. Deceivers and impostors, under the pretence of divine inspiration fostering revolutionary changes, they persuaded the multitude to act like madmen, and led them out into the desert under the belief that God would there give them tokens of deliverance. Against them Felix, regarding this as but the preliminary to insurrection, sent a body of horse and foot[[240]] and put a large number to the sword.[[241]]
A still worse blow was dealt at the Jews by the Egyptian false prophet. A charlatan, who had gained for himself the reputation of a prophet, this man collected about thirty thousand of his dupes, entered the country and led his force round from the desert to the mount called Olivet. From there he proposed to force an entrance into Jerusalem and, after overpowering the Roman garrison and the people, to act as despot with the aid of his bodyguard of lancers who were to pour in with him. His attack was anticipated by Felix, who went to meet him with the Roman forces,[[242]] the whole population joining him in the defence; with the result that in the ensuing engagement, while the Egyptian escaped with a few of his followers, most of his force were killed or taken prisoners. The remainder were dispersed, and got away one by one to their homes.
No sooner were these disorders reduced than, as in a diseased frame, the fever broke out again in another quarter. The impostors and brigands, banding together, induced many to revolt, encouraging them to assert their independence, and threatening to kill any who submitted to Roman rule and to use violence to tear from their allegiance any who still chose voluntary servitude. Distributing themselves in companies throughout the country, they looted the houses of the wealthy, murdered their owners, and set the villages on fire; and so spread the infection of their madness throughout all Judæa.
While this war was daily being fanned into flame, |c. A.D. 59| another disturbance occurred at Cæsarea,[[243]] where the Jewish portion of the population rose against the Syrians. They claimed that the city was theirs on the ground that its founder, King Herod, was a Jew. Their opponents admitted the Jewish origin of its (second) founder, but maintained that the city itself belonged to the Greeks, since Herod would never have erected the statues and temples which he placed there had he intended it for Jews.... The quarrel still continuing, Felix selected the notables from either party and sent them as a deputation to Nero to argue the merits of the case.
Festus
A.D. 60-62
Festus, who succeeded Felix as procurator, proceeded to attack the principal plague of the country; he captured large numbers of the brigands and put not a few to death.
Albinus
The administration of Albinus, who followed Festus, |A.D. 62-64| was of another order; there was no form of villainy which he omitted to practise. Not only did he, in his official capacity, steal and plunder private property and burden the whole nation with imposts, but he accepted ransoms from their relatives on behalf of persons who had been imprisoned for robbery by the local councils or by former procurators; and none was left in gaol as a malefactor save those who failed to pay the price.
At this period a fresh stimulus was given to the revolutionary party in Jerusalem, the influential men among their number securing from Albinus, by means of bribes, immunity for their seditious practices; while the section of the populace which could never remain quiet joined hands with the governor’s accomplices. Individual scoundrels had around them each his own band of followers, among whom they figured conspicuously like brigand-chiefs or tyrants, employing their bodyguard to plunder peaceable citizens. The outcome was that the victims of robbery kept their grievances, of which they had every reason to complain, to themselves, while those who escaped cringed to one who deserved punishment, through fear of suffering the same fate. In short, none could now speak his mind, with tyrants on every side; and from this date were sown in the city the seeds of its impending fall.
Gessius Florus
Such was the character of Albinus, but his successor, Gessius Florus, |A. D. 64-66| made him appear by comparison a paragon of virtue. The crimes of Albinus were, for the most part, perpetrated in secret and with dissimulation; Gessius, on the contrary, ostentatiously paraded his lawless treatment of the nation, and, as though he had been sent as hangman of condemned criminals, committed every kind of robbery and outrage. In cases which called for compassion he was cruel beyond measure; in dealing with shameful conduct,[[244]] he was utterly devoid of shame. No man ever poured greater contempt[[245]] on truth or contrived more subtle methods of villainy. To make gain out of individuals seemed beneath him: he stripped whole cities, ruined entire populations, and almost went the length of proclaiming throughout the country that all were at liberty to rob on condition that he received his share of the spoils. Certainly his avarice brought desolation upon all districts,[[246]] and caused many to desert their ancestral homes and seek refuge in foreign provinces.
So long as Cestius Gallus was in Syria discharging his provincial administrative duties, none dared to send a deputation to him to complain of Florus; but when he visited Jerusalem on the eve of the feast of unleavened bread, the people crowded around him to no less a number than three millions, imploring him to have compassion on the calamities of the nation, and loudly denouncing Florus as the ruin of the country. Florus, who was present at Cestius’s side, scoffed at their outcry. Cestius, however, when he had quieted the excitement of the crowd, pledged himself to secure for them greater moderation on the part of Florus in future, and so returned to Antioch.
Florus escorted him as far as Cæsarea, playing upon his credulity, and already contemplating the prospect of war with the nation—his only hope of covering up his own enormities. For, if the peace were kept, he expected to have the Jews accusing him before Cæsar; whereas, could he bring about their revolt, he would by means of the larger calamity divert attention from the less. In order, therefore, to produce an outbreak of the nation, he daily added to their sufferings.—B.J. II. 12. 8-14. 3 (247-283).