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1. A Little before the death of Herod the king, Agrippa lived at
Rome, and was generally brought up and conversed with Drusus, the
emperor Tiberius's son, and contracted a friendship with Antonia,
the wife of Drusus the Great, who had his mother Bernice in great
esteem, and was very desirous of advancing her son. Now as
Agrippa was by nature magnanimous and generous in the presents he
made, while his mother was alive, this inclination of his mind
did not appear, that he might be able to avoid her anger for such
his extravagance; but when Bernice was dead, and he was left to
his own conduct, he spent a great deal extravagantly in his daily
way of living, and a great deal in the immoderate presents he
made, and those chiefly among Caesar's freed-men, in order to
gain their assistance, insomuch that he was, in a little time,
reduced to poverty, and could not live at Rome any longer.
Tiberius also forbade the friends of his deceased son to come
into his sight, because on seeing them he should be put in mind
of his son, and his grief would thereby be revived.
2. For these reasons he went away from Rome, and sailed to Judea,
but in evil circumstances, being dejected with the loss of that
money which he once had, and because he had not wherewithal to
pay his creditors, who were many in number, and such as gave him
no room for escaping them. Whereupon he knew not what to do; so,
for shame of his present condition, he retired to a certain
tower, at Malatha, in Idumea, and had thoughts of killing
himself; but his wife Cypros perceived his intentions, and tried
all sorts of methods to divert him from his taking such a course;
so she sent a letter to his sister Herodias, who was now the wife
of Herod the tetrarch, and let her know Agrippa's present design,
and what necessity it was which drove him thereto, and desired
her, as a kinswoman of his, to give him her help, and to engage
her husband to do the same, since she saw how she alleviated
these her husband's troubles all she could, although she had not
the like wealth to do it withal. So they sent for him, and
allotted him Tiberias for his habitation, and appointed him some
income of money for his maintenance, and made him a magistrate of
that city, by way of honor to him. Yet did not Herod long
continue in that resolution of supporting him, though even that
support was not sufficient for him; for as once they were at a
feast at Tyre, and in their cups, and reproaches were cast upon
one another, Agrippa thought that was not to be borne, while
Herod hit him in the teeth with his poverty, and with his owing
his necessary food to him. So he went to Flaccus, one that had
been consul, and had been a very great friend to him at Rome
formerly, and was now president of Syria.
3. Hereupon Flaccus received him kindly, and he lived with him.
Flaccus had also with him there Aristobulus, who was indeed
Agrippa's brother, but was at variance with him; yet did not
their enmity to one another hinder the friendship of Flaccus to
them both, but still they were honorably treated by him. However,
Aristobulus did not abate of his ill-will to Agrippa, till at
length he brought him into ill terms with Flaccus; the occasion
of bringing on which estrangement was this: The Damascens were at
difference with the Sidonians about their limits, and when
Flaccus was about to hear the cause between them, they understood
that Agrippa had a mighty influence upon him; so they desired
that he would be of their side, and for that favor promised him a
great deal of money; so he was zealous in assisting the Damascens
as far as he was able. Now Aristobulus had gotten intelligence of
this promise of money to him, and accused him to Flaccus of the
same; and when, upon a thorough examination of the matter, it
appeared plainly so to be, he rejected Agrippa out of the number
of his friends. So he was reduced to the utmost necessity, and
came to Ptolemais; and because he knew not where else to get a
livelihood, he thought to sail to Italy; but as he was restrained
from so doing by want of money, he desired Marsyas, who was his
freed-man, to find some method for procuring him so much as he
wanted for that purpose, by borrowing such a sum of some person
or other. So Marsyas desired of Peter, who was the freed-man of
Bernice, Agrippa's mother, and by the right of her testament was
bequeathed to Antonia, to lend so much upon Agrippa's own bond
and security; but he accused Agrippa of having defrauded him of
certain sums of money, and so obliged Marsyas, when he made the
bond of twenty thousand Attic drachmae, to accept of twenty-five
hundred drachma as less than what he desired, which the
other allowed of, because he could not help it. Upon the receipt
of this money, Agrippa came to Anthedon, and took shipping, and
was going to set sail; but Herennius Capito, who was the
procurator of Jamhis, sent a band of soldiers to demand of him
three hundred thousand drachmae of silver, which were by him
owing to Caesar's treasury while he was at Rome, and so forced
him to stay. He then pretended that he would do as he bid him;
but when night came on, he cut his cables, and went off, and
sailed to Alexandria, where he desired Alexander the alabarch
to lend him two hundred thousand drachmae; but he said he
would not lend it to him, but would not refuse it to Cypros, as
greatly astonished at her affection to her husband, and at the
other instances of her virtue; so she undertook to repay it.
Accordingly, Alexander paid them five talents at Alexandria, and
promised to pay them the rest of that sum at Dicearchia
[Puteoli]; and this he did out of the fear he was in that Agrippa
would soon spend it. So this Cypros set her husband free, and
dismissed him to go on with his navigation to Italy, while she
and her children departed for Judea.
4. And now Agrippa was come to Puteoli, whence he wrote a letter
to Tiberius Caesar, who then lived at Capreae, and told him that
he was come so far in order to wait on him, and to pay him a
visit; and desired that he would give him leave to come over to
Caprein: so Tiberius made no difficulty, but wrote to him in an
obliging way in other respects; and withal told him he was glad
of his safe return, and desired him to come to Capreae; and when
he was come, he did not fail to treat him as kindly as he had
promised him in his letter to do. But the next day came a letter
to Caesar from Herennius Capito, to inform him that Agrippa had
borrowed three hundred thousand drachmae, and not pad it at the
time appointed; but when it was demanded of him, he ran away like
a fugitive, out of the places under his government, and put it
out of his power to get the money of him. When Caesar had read
this letter, he was much troubled at it, and gave order that
Agrippa should be excluded from his presence until he had paid
that debt: upon which he was no way daunted at Caesar's anger,
but entreated Antonia, the mother of Germanicus, and of Claudius,
who was afterward Caesar himself, to lend him those three hundred
thousand drachmae, that he might not be deprived of Tiberius's
friendship; so, out of regard to the memory of Bernice his
mother, (for those two women were very familiar with one
another,) and out of regard to his and Claudius's education
together, she lent him the money; and, upon the payment of this
debt, there was nothing to hinder Tiberius's friendship to him.
After this, Tiberius Caesar recommended to him his grandson,
and ordered that he should always accompany him when he went
abroad. But upon Agrippa's kind reception by Antonia, he betook
him to pay his respects to Caius, who was her grandson, and in
very high reputation by reason of the good-will they bare his
father. Now there was one Thallus, a freed-man of Caesar, of whom
he borrowed a million of drachmae, and thence repaid Antonia the
debt he owed her; and by sending the overplus in paying his court
to Caius, became a person of great authority with him.
5. Now as the friendship which Agrippa had for Caius was come to
a great height, there happened some words to pass between them,
as they once were in a chariot together, concerning Tiberius;
Agrippa praying [to God] (for they two sat by themselves) that
Tiberius might soon go off the stage, and leave the government to
Caius, who was in every respect more worthy of it. Now Eutychus,
who was Agrippa's freed-man, and drove his chariot, heard these
words, and at that time said nothing of them; but when Agrippa
accused him of stealing some garments of his, (which was
certainly true,) he ran away from him; but when he was caught,
and brought before Piso, who was governor of the city, and the
man was asked why he ran away, be replied, that he had somewhat
to say to Caesar, that tended to his security and preservation:
so Piso bound him, and sent him to Capreae. But Tiberius,
according to his usual custom, kept him still in bonds, being a
delayer of affairs, if ever there was any other king or tyrant
that was so; for he did not admit ambassadors quickly, and no
successors were despatched away to governors or procurators of
the provinces that had been formerly sent, unless they were dead;
whence it was that he was so negligent in hearing the causes of
prisoners; insomuch that when he was asked by his friends what
was the reason of his delay in such cases, he said that he
delayed to hear ambassadors, lest, upon their quick dismission,
other ambassadors should be appointed, and return upon him; and
so he should bring trouble upon himself in their public reception
and dismission: that he permitted those governors who had been
sent once to their government [to stay there a long while], out
of regard to the subjects that were under them; for that all
governors are naturally disposed to get as much as they can; and
that those who are not to fix there, but to stay a short time,
and that at an uncertainty when they shall be turned out, do the
more severely hurry themselves on to fleece the people; but that
if their government be long continued to them; they are at last
satiated with the spoils, as having gotten a vast deal, and so
become at length less sharp in their pillaging; but that if
successors are sent quickly, the poor subjects, who are exposed
to them as a prey, will not be able to bear the new ones, while
they shall not have the same time allowed them wherein their
predecessors had filled themselves, and so grew more unconcerned
about getting more; and this because they are removed before they
have had time [for their oppressions]. He gave them an example to
show his meaning: A great number of flies came about the sore
places of a man that had been wounded; upon which one of the
standers-by pitied the man's misfortune, and thinking he was not
able to drive those flies away himself, was going to drive them
away for him; but he prayed him to let them alone: the other, by
way of reply, asked him the reason of such a preposterous
proceeding, in preventing relief from his present misery; to
which he answered, "If thou drivest these flies away, thou wilt
hurt me worse; for as these are already full of my blood, they do
not crowd about me, nor pain me so much as before, but are
somewhat more remiss, while the fresh ones that come almost
famished, and find me quite tired down already, will be my
destruction. For this cause, therefore, it is that I am myself
careful not to send such new governors perpetually to those my
subjects, who are already sufficiently harassed by many
oppressions, as may, like these flies, further distress them; and
so, besides their natural desire of gain, may have this
additional incitement to it, that they expect to be suddenly
deprived of that pleasure which they take in it." And, as a
further attestation to what I say of the dilatory nature of
Tiberius, I appeal to this his practice itself; for although he
was emperor twenty-two years, he sent in all but two procurators
to govern the nation of the Jews, Gratus, and his successor in
the government, Pilate. Nor was he in one way of acting with
respect to the Jews, and in another with respect to the rest of
his subjects. He further informed them, that even in the hearing
of the causes of prisoners, he made such delays, because
immediate death to those that must be condemned to die would be
an alleviation of their present miseries, while those wicked
wretches have not deserved any such favor; "but I do it, that, by
being harassed with the present calamity, they may undergo
greater misery."
6. On this account it was that Eutychus could not obtain a
bearing, but was kept still in prison. However, some time
afterward, Tiberius came from Capreae to Tusculanum, which is
about a hundred furlongs from Rome. Agrippa then desired of
Antonia that she would procure a hearing for Eutychus, let the
matter whereof he accused him prove what it would. Now Antonia
was greatly esteemed by Tiberius on all accounts, from the
dignity of her relation to him, who had been his brother Drusus's
wife, and from her eminent chastity; for though she was
still a young woman, she continued in her widowhood, and refused
all other matches, although Augustus had enjoined her to be
married to somebody else; yet did she all along preserve her
reputation free from reproach. She had also been the greatest
benefactress to Tiberius, when there was a very dangerous plot
laid against him by Sejanus, a man who had been her husband's
friend, and wire had the greatest authority, because he was
general of the army, and when many members of the senate and many
of the freed-men joined with him, and the soldiery was corrupted,
and the plot was come to a great height. Now Sejanus had
certainly gained his point, had not Antonia's boldness been more
wisely conducted than Sejanus's malice; for when she had
discovered his designs against Tiberius, she wrote him an exact
account of the whole, and gave the letter to Pallas, the most
faithful of her servants, and sent him to Caprere to Tiberius,
who, when he understood it, slew Sejanus and his confederates; so
that Tiberius, who had her in great esteem before, now looked
upon her with still greater respect, and depended upon her in all
things. So when Tiberius was desired by this Antonia to examine
Eutychus, he answered, "If indeed Eutychus hath falsely accused
Agrippa in what he hath said of him, he hath had sufficient
punishment by what I have done to him already; but if, upon
examination, the accusation appears to be true, let Agrippa have
a care, lest, out of desire of punishing his freed-man, he do not
rather bring a punishment upon himself." Now when Antonia told
Agrippa of this, he was still much more pressing that the matter
might be examined into; so Antonia, upon Agrippa's lying hard at
her continually to beg this favor, took the following
opportunity: As Tiberius lay once at his ease upon his sedan, and
was carried about, and Caius, her grandson, and Agrippa, were
before him after dinner she walked by the sedan, and desired him
to call Eutychus, and have him examined; to which he replied, "O
Antonia! the gods are my witnesses that I am induced to do what I
am going to do, not by my own inclination, but because I am
forced to it by thy prayers." When he had said this, he ordered
Macro, who succeeded Sejanus, to bring Eutychus to him;
accordingly, without any delay, he was brought. Then Tiberius
asked him what he had to say against a man who had given him his
liberty. Upon which he said, "O my lord! this Caius, and Agrippa
with him, were once riding in a chariot, when I sat at their
feet, and, among other discourses that passed, Agrippa said to
Caius, Oh that the day would once come when this old fellow will
dies and name thee for the governor of the habitable earth! for
then this Tiberius, his grandson, would be no hinderance, but
would be taken off by thee, and that earth would be happy, and I
happy also." Now Tiberius took these to be truly Agrippa's words,
and bearing a grudge withal at Agrippa, because, when he had
commanded him to pay his respects to Tiberius, his grandson, and
the son of Drusus, Agrippa had not paid him that respect, but had
disobeyed his commands, and transferred all his regard to Caius;
he said to Macro, "Bind this man." But Macro, not distinctly
knowing which of them it was whom he bid him bind, and not
expecting that he would have any such thing done to Agrippa, he
forbore, and came to ask more distinctly what it was that he
said. But when Caesar had gone round the hippodrome, he found
Agrippa standing: "For certain," said he, "Macro, this is the man
I meant to have bound;" and when he still asked, "Which of these
is to be bound?" he said "Agrippa." Upon which Agrippa betook
himself to make supplication for himself, putting him in mind of
his son, with whom he was brought up, and of Tiberius [his
grandson] whom he had educated; but all to no purpose; for they
led him about bound even in his purple garments. It was also very
hot weather, and they had but little wine to their meal, so that
he was very thirsty; he was also in a sort of agony, and took
this treatment of him heinously: as he therefore saw one of
Caius's slaves, whose name was Thaumastus, carrying some water in
a vessel, he desired that he would let him drink; so the servant
gave him some water to drink, and he drank heartily, and said, "O
thou boy! this service of thine to me will be for thy advantage;
for if I once get clear of these my bonds, I will soon procure
thee thy freedom of Caius who has not been wanting to minister to
me now I am in bonds, in the same manner as when I was in my
former state and dignity." Nor did he deceive him in what he
promised him, but made him amends for what he had now done; for
when afterward Agrippa was come to the kingdom, he took
particular care of Thaumastus, and got him his liberty from
Caius, and made him the steward over his own estate; and when he
died, he left him to Agrippa his son, and to Bernice his
daughter, to minister to them in the same capacity. The man also
grew old in that honorable post, and therein died. But all this
happened a good while later.
7. Now Agrippa stood in his bonds before the royal palace, and
leaned on a certain tree for grief, with many others,. who were
in bonds also; and as a certain bird sat upon the tree on which
Agrippa leaned, (the Romans call this bird bubo,) [an owl,] one
of those that were bound, a German by nation, saw him, and asked
a soldier who that man in purple was; and when he was informed
that his name was Agrippa, and that he was by nation a Jew, and
one of the principal men of that nation, he asked leave of the
soldier to whom he was bound, to let him come nearer to him,
to speak with him; for that he had a mind to inquire of him about
some things relating to his country; which liberty, when he had
obtained, and as he stood near him, he said thus to him by an
interpreter: "This sudden change of thy condition, O young man!
is grievous to thee, as bringing on thee a manifold and very
great adversity; nor wilt thou believe me, when I foretell how
thou wilt get clear of this misery which thou art now under, and
how Divine Providence will provide for thee. Know therefore (and
I appeal to my own country gods, as well as to the gods of this
place, who have awarded these bonds to us) that all I am going to
say about thy concerns shall neither be said for favor nor
bribery, nor out of an endeavor to make thee cheerful without
cause; for such predictions, when they come to fail, make the
grief at last, and in earnest, more bitter than if the party had
never heard of any such thing. However, though I run the hazard
of my own self, I think it fit to declare to thee the prediction
of the gods. It cannot be that thou shouldst long continue in
these bonds; but thou wilt soon be delivered from them, and wilt
be promoted to the highest dignity and power, and thou wilt be
envied by all those who now pity thy hard fortune; and thou wilt
be happy till thy death, and wilt leave thine happiness to the
children whom thou shalt have. But do thou remember, when thou
seest this bird again, that thou wilt then live but five days
longer. This event will be brought to pass by that God who hath
sent this bird hither to be a sign unto thee. And I cannot but
think it unjust to conceal from thee what I foreknow concerning
thee, that, by thy knowing beforehand what happiness is coming
upon thee, thou mayst not regard thy present misfortunes. But
when this happiness shall actually befall thee, do not forget
what misery I am in myself, but endeavor to deliver me." So when
the German had said this, he made Agrippa laugh at him as much as
he afterwards appeared worthy of admiration. But now Antonia took
Agrippa's misfortune to heart: however, to speak to Tiberius on
his behalf, she took to be a very difficult thing, and indeed
quite impracticable, as to any hope of success; yet did she
procure of Macro, that the soldiers that kept him should be of a
gentle nature, and that the centurion who was over them and was
to diet with him, should be of the same disposition, and that he
might have leave to bathe himself every day, and that his
freed-men and friends might come to him, and that other things
that tended to ease him might be indulged him. So his friend
Silas came in to him, and two of his freed-men, Marsyas and
Stechus, brought him such sorts of food as he was fond of, and
indeed took great care of him; they ,also brought him garments,
under pretense of selling them; and when night came on, they laid
them under him; and the soldiers assisted them, as Macro had
given them order to do beforehand. And this was Agrippa's
condition for six months' time, and in this case were his
affairs.
8. But for Tiberius, upon his return to Caprein, he fell sick. At
first his distemper was but gentle; but as that distemper
increased upon him, he had small or no hopes of recovery.
Hereupon he bid Euodus, who was that freed-man whom he most of
all respected, to bring the children to him, for that he
wanted to talk to them before he died. Now he had at present no
sons of his own alive for Drusus, who was his only son, was dead;
but Drusus's son Tiberius was still living, whose additional name
was Gemellus: there was also living Caius, the son of Germanicus,
who was the son of his brother [Drusus]. He was now grown
up, and had a liberal education, and was well improved by it, and
was in esteem and favor with the people, on account of the
excellent character of his father Germanicus, who had attained
the highest honor among the multitude, by the firmness of his
virtuous behavior, by the easiness and agreeableness of his
conversing with the multitude, and because the dignity he was in
did not hinder his familiarity with them all, as if they were his
equals; by which behavior he was not only greatly esteemed by the
people and the senate, but by every one of those nations that
were subject to the Romans; some of which were affected when they
came to him with the gracefulness of their reception by him, and
others were affected in the same manner by the report of the
others that had been with him; and, upon his death, there was a
lamentation made by all men; not such a one as was to be made in
way of flattery to their rulers, while they did but counterfeit
sorrow, but such as was real; while every body grieved at his
death, as if they had lost one that was near to them. And truly
such had been his easy conversation with men, that it turned
greatly to the advantage of his son among all; and, among others,
the soldiery were so peculiarly affected to him, that they
reckoned it an eligible thing, if need were, to die themselves,
if he might but attain to the government.
9. But when Tiberius had given order to Euodus to bring the
children to him the next day in the morning, he prayed to his
country gods to show him a manifest signal which of those
children should come to the government; being very desirous to
leave it to his son's son, but still depending upon what God
should foreshow concerning them more than upon his own opinion
and inclination; so he made this to be the omen, that the
government should be left to him who should come to him first the
next day. When he had thus resolved within himself, he sent to
his grandson's tutor, and ordered him to bring the child to him
early in the morning, as supposing that God would permit him to
be made emperor. But God proved opposite to his designation; for
while Tiberius was thus contriving matters, and as soon as it was
at all day, he bid Euodus to call in that child which should be
there ready. So he went out, and found Caius before the door, for
Tiberius was not yet come, but staid waiting for his breakfast;
for Euodus knew nothing of what his lord intended; so he said to
Caius, "Thy father calls thee," and then brought him in. As soon
as Tiberius saw Caius, and not before, he reflected on the power
of God, and how the ability of bestowing the government on whom
he would was entirely taken from him; and thence he was not able
to establish what he had intended. So he greatly lamented that
his power of establishing what he had before contrived was taken
from him, and that his grandson Tiberius was not only to lose the
Roman empire by his fatality, but his own safety also, because
his preservation would now depend upon such as would be more
potent than himself, who would think it a thing not to be borne,
that a kinsman should live with them, and so his relation would
not be able to protect him; but he would be feared and bated by
him who had the supreme authority, partly on account of his being
next to the empire, and partly on account of his perpetually
contriving to get the government, both in order to preserve
himself, and to be at the head of affairs also. Now Tiberius had
been very much given to astrology, and the calculation of
nativities, and had spent his life in the esteem of what
predictions had proved true, more than those whose profession it
was. Accordingly, when he once saw Galba coming in to him, he
said to his most intimate friends, that there came in a man that
would one day have the dignity of the Roman empire. So that this
Tiberius was more addicted to all such sorts of diviners than any
other of the Roman emperors, because he had found them to have
told him truth in his own affairs. And indeed he was now in great
distress upon this accident that had befallen him, and was very
much grieved at the destruction of his son's son, which he
foresaw, and complained of himself, that he should have made use
of such a method of divination beforehand, while it was in his
power to have died without grief by this knowledge of futurity;
whereas he was now tormented by his foreknowledge of the
misfortune of such as were dearest to him, and must die under
that torment. Now although he was disordered at this unexpected
revolution of the government to those for whom he did not intend
it, he spake thus to Caius, though unwillingly, and against his
own inclination: "O child! although Tiberius be nearer related to
me than thou art, I, by my own determination, and the conspiring
suffrage of the gods, do give and put into thy hand the Roman
empire; and I desire thee never to be unmindful when thou comest
to it, either of my kindness to thee, who set thee in so high a
dignity, or of thy relation to Tiberius. But as thou knowest that
I am, together with and after the gods, the procurer of so great
happiness to thee; so I desire that thou wilt make me a return
for my readiness to assist thee, and wilt take care of Tiberius
because of his near relation to thee. Besides which, thou art to
know, that while Tiberius is alive, he will be a security to
thee, both as to empire and as to thy own preservation; but if he
die, that will be but a prelude to thy own misfortunes; for to be
alone under the weight of such vast affairs is very dangerous;
nor will the gods suffer those actions which are unjustly done,
contrary to that law which directs men to act otherwise, to go
off unpunished." This was the speech which Tiberius made, which
did not persuade Caius to act accordingly, although he promised
so to do; but when he was settled in the government, he took off
this Tiberius, as was predicted by the other Tiberius; as he was
also himself, in no long time afterward, slain by a secret plot
laid against him.
10. So when Tiberius had at this time appointed Caius to be his
successor, he outlived but a few days, and then died, after he
had held the government twenty-two years five months and three
days. Now Caius was the fourth emperor. But when the Romans
understood that Tiberius was dead, they rejoiced at the good
news, but had not courage to believe it; not because they were
unwilling it should be true, for they would have given huge sums
of money that it might be so, but because they were afraid, that
if they had showed their joy when the news proved false, their
joy should be openly known, and they should be accused for it,
and be thereby undone. For this Tiberius had brought a vast
number of miseries on the best families of the Romans, since he
was easily inflamed with passion in all cases, and was of such a
temper as rendered his anger irrevocable, till he had executed
the same, although he had taken a hatred against men without
reason; for he was by nature fierce in all the sentences he gave,
and made death the penalty for the lightest offenses; insomuch
that when the Romans heard the rumor about his death gladly, they
were restrained from the enjoyment of that pleasure by the dread
of such miseries as they foresaw would follow, if their hopes
proved ill-grounded. Now Marsyas, Agrippa's freed-man, as soon as
he heard of Tiberius's death, came running to tell Agrippa the
news; and finding him going out to the bath, he gave him a nod,
and said, in the Hebrew tongue, "The lion is dead;" who,
understanding his meaning, and being ovejoyed at the news, "Nay,"
said he, "but all sorts of thanks and happiness attend thee for
this news of thine; only I wish that what thou sayest may prove
true." Now the centurion who was set to keep Agrippa, when he saw
with what haste Marsyas came, and what joy Agrippa had from what
he said, he had a suspicion that his words implied some great
innovation of affairs, and he asked them about what was said.
They at first diverted the discourse; but upon his further
pressing, Agrippa, without more ado, told him, for he was already
become his friend; so he joined with him in that pleasure which
this news occasioned, because it would be fortunate to Agrippa,
and made him a supper. But as they were feasting, and the cups
went about, there came one who said that Tiberius was still
alive, and would return to the city ill a few days. At which news
the centurion was exceedingly troubled, because he had done what
might cost him his life, to have treated so joyfully a prisoner,
and this upon the news of the death of Caesar; so he thrust
Agrippa from the couch whereon he lay, and said, "Dost thou think
to cheat me by a lie about the emperor without punishment? and
shalt not thou pay for this thy malicious report at the price of
thine head?" When he had so said, he ordered Agrippa to be bound
again, (for he had loosed him before,) and kept a severer guard
over him than formerly, and in that evil condition was Agrippa
that night; but the next day the rumor increased in the city, and
confirmed the news that Tiberius was certainly dead; insomuch
that men durst now openly and freely talk about it; nay, some
offered sacrifices on that account. Several letters also came
from Caius; one of them to the senate, which informed them of the
death of Tiberius, and of his own entrance on the government;
another to Piso, the governor of the city, which told him the
same thing. He also gave order that Agrippa should be removed out
of the camp, and go to that house where he lived before he was
put in prison; so that he was now out of fear as to his own
affairs; for although he was still in custody, yet it was now
with ease to his own affairs. Now, as soon as Caius was come to
Rome, and had brought Tiberius's dead body with him, and had made
a sumptuous funeral for him, according to the laws of his
country, he was much disposed to set Agrippa at liberty that very
day; but Antonia hindered him, not out of any ill-will to the
prisoner, but out of regard to decency in Caius, lest that should
make men believe that he received the death of Tiberius with
pleasure, when he loosed one whom he had bound immediately.
However, there did not many days pass ere he sent for him to his
house, and had him shaved, and made him change his raiment; after
which he put a diadem upon his head, and appointed him to be king
of the tetrarchy of Philip. He also gave him the tetrarchy of
Lysanias, and changed his iron chain for a golden one of
equal weight. He also sent Marullus to be procurator of Judea.
11. Now, in the second year of the reign of Caius Caesar, Agrippa
desired leave to be given him to sail home, and settle the
affairs of his government; and he promised to return again, when
he had put the rest in order, as it ought to be put. So, upon the
emperor's permission, he came into his own country, and appeared
to them all unexpectedly as asking, and thereby demonstrated to
the men that saw him the power of fortune, when they compared his
former poverty with his present happy affluence; so some called
him a happy man, and others could not well believe that things
were so much changed with him for the better.
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