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But there were still some that irritated the multitude
against me, and said that those great men that belonged to the
king ought not to be suffered to live, if they would not change
their religion to the religion of those to whom they fled for
safety: they spake reproachfully of them also, and said that they
were wizards, and such as called in the Romans upon them. So the
multitude was soon deluded by such plausible pretenses as were
agreeable to their own inclinations, and were prevailed on by
them. But when I was informed of this, I instructed the multitude
again, that those who fled to them for refuge ought not to be
persecuted: I also laughed at the allegation about witchcraft,
and told them that the Romans would not maintain so many ten
thousand soldiers, if they could overcome their enemies by
wizards. Upon my saying this, the people assented for a while;
but they returned again afterwards, as irritated by some ill
people against the great men; nay, they once made an assault upon
the house in which they dwelt at Tarichess, in order to kill
them; which, when I was informed of, I was afraid lest so horrid
a crime should take effect, and nobody else would make that city
their refuge any more. I therefore came myself, and some others
with me, to the house where these great men lived, and locked the
doors, and had a trench drawn from their house leading to the
lake, and sent for a ship, and embarked therein with them, and
sailed to the confines of Hippos: I also paid them the value of
their horses; nor in such a flight could I have their horses
brought to them. I then dismissed them, and begged of them
earnestly that they would courageously bear I this distress which
befell them. I was also myself I greatly displeased that I was
compelled to expose those that had fled to me to go again into an
enemy's country; yet did I think it more eligible that they
should perish among the Romans, if it should so happen, than in
the country that was under my jurisdiction. However, they escaped
at length, and king Agrippa forgave them their offenses. And this
was the conclusion of what concerned these men.
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