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Philo has given us an account, in five books, of the misfortunes of
the Jews under Caius. He recounts at the same time the madness of
Caius: how he called himself a god, and performed as emperor
innumerable acts of tyranny; and he describes further the miseries of
the Jews under him, and gives a report of the embassy upon which he
himself was sent to Rome in behalf of his fellow-countrymen in
Alexandria; how when he appeared before Caius in behalf of the laws
of his fathers he received nothing but laughter and ridicule, and
almost incurred the risk of his life. Josephus also makes mention of
these things in the eighteenth book of his Antiquities, in the
following words: a "A sedition having arisen in Alexandria between
the Jews that dwell there and the Greeks, three deputies were chosen
from each faction and went to Caius.
One of the Alexandrian deputies was Apion, who uttered many slanders
against the Jews; among other things saying that they neglected the
honors due to Caesar. For while all other subjects of Rome erected
altars and temples to Caius, and in all other respects treated him
just as they did the gods, they alone considered it disgraceful to
honor him with statues and to swear by his name. And when Apion had
uttered many severe charges by which he hoped that Caius would be
aroused, as indeed was likely, Philo, the chief of the Jewish
embassy, a man celebrated in every respect, a brother of Alexander
the Alabarch, and not unskilled in philosophy, was prepared to enter
upon a defense in reply to his accusations. But Caius prevented him
and ordered him to leave, and being very angry, it was plain that he
meditated some severe measure against them. And Philo departed
covered with insult and told the Jews that were with him to be of good
courage; for while Caius was raging against them he was in fact
already contending with God." Thus far Josephus. And Philo
himself, in the work On the Embassy which he wrote, describes
accurately and in detail the things which were done by him at that
time. But I shall omit the most of them and record only those things
which will make clearly evident to the reader that the misfortunes of
the Jews came upon them not long after their daring deeds against
Christ and on account of the same. And in the first place he relates
that at Rome in the reign of Tiberius, Sejanus, who at that time
enjoyed great influence with the emperor, made every effort to destroy
the Jewish nation utterly; and that in Judea, Pilate, under whom
the crimes against the Saviour were committed, attempted something
contrary to the Jewish law in respect to the temple, which was at that
time still standing in Jerusalem, and excited them to the greatest
tumults.
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