Chapter I. The Course Pursued by the Apostles After the Ascension of Christ.
Chapter II. How Tiberius Was Affected When Informed by Pilate Concerning Christ.
Chapter III. The Doctrine of Christ Soon Spread Throughout All the World.
Chapter V. Philo's Embassy to Caius in Behalf of the Jews.
Chapter VI. The Misfortunes Which Overwhelmed the Jews After Their Presumption Against Christ.
Chapter VII. Pilate's Suicide.
Chapter VIII. The Famine Which Took Place in the Reign of Claudius.
Chapter IX. The Martyrdom of James the Apostle.
Chapter XI. The Impostor Theudas and His Followers.
Chapter XII. Helen, the Queen of the Osrhoenians.
Chapter XIV. The Preaching of the Apostle Peter in Rome.
Chapter XV. The Gospel According to Mark.
Chapter XVI. Mark First Proclaimed Christianity to the Inhabitants of Egypt.
Chapter XVII. Philo's Account of the Ascetics of Egypt.
Chapter XVIII. The Works of Philo188 That Have Came Down to Us.
Chapter XIX. The Calamity Which Befell the Jews in Jerusalem an the Day of the Passover.
Chapter XX. The Events Which Took Place in Jerusalem During the Reign of Nero.
Chapter XXI. The Egyptian, Who is Mentioned Also in the Acts of the Apostles.
Chapter XXIII. The Martyrdom of James, Who Was Called the Brother of the Lord.
Chapter XXIV. Annianus the First Bishop of the Church of Alexandria After Mark.
Chapter XXVI. The Jews, Afflicted with Innumerable Evils, Commenced the Last War Against the Romans.
1 We have discussed in the preceding book those subjects in ecclesiastical history which it was necessary to treat by way of introduction, and have accompanied them with brief proofs. Such were the divinity of the saving Word, and the antiquity of the doctrines which we teach, as well as of that evangelical life which is led by Christians, together with the events which have taken place in connection with Christ's recent appearance, and in connection with his passion and with the choice of the apostles.
2 In the present book let us examine the events which took place after his ascension, confirming some of them from the divine Scriptures, and others from such writings as we shall refer to from time to time.
1 First, then, in the place of Judas, the betrayer, Matthias,1 who, as has been shown2 was also one of the Seventy, was chosen to the apostolate. And there were appointed to the diaconate,3 for the service of the congregation, by prayer and the laying on of the hands of the apostles, approved men, seven in number, of whom Stephen was one.4 He first, after the Lord, was stoned to death at the time of his ordination by the slayers of the Lord, as if he had been promoted for this very purpose.5 And thus he was the first to receive the crown, corresponding to his name,6 which belongs to the martyrs of Christ, who are worthy of the meed of victory.
2 Then James, whom the ancients surnamed the Just7 on account of the excellence of his virtue, is recorded to have been the first to be made bishop of the church of Jerusalem. This James was called the brother of the Lord8 because he was known as a son of Joseph,9 and Joseph was supposed to be the father of Christ, because the Virgin, being betrothed to him, "was found with child by the Holy Ghost before they came together,"10 as the account of the holy Gospels shows.
3 But Clement in the sixth book of his Hypotyposes11 writes thus: "For they say that Peter and James and John after the ascension of our Saviour, as if also preferred by our Lord, strove not after honor, but chose James the Just bishop of Jerusalem."12
4 But the same writer, in the seventh book of the same work, relates also the following things concerning him: "The Lord after his resurrection imparted knowledge to James the Just and to John and Peter, and they imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the apostles to the seventy, of whom Barnabas was one.13 But there were two Jameses:14 one called the Just, who was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple and was beaten to death with a club by a fuller,15 and another who was beheaded."16 Paul also makes mention of the same James the Just, where he writes, "Other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother."17
5 At that time also the promise of our Saviour to the king of the Osrhoenians was fulfilled. For Thomas, under a divine impulse, sent Thaddeus to Edessa as a preacher and evangelist of the religion of Christ, as we have shown a little above from the document found there?18
7 When he came to that place he healed Abgarus by the word of Christ; and after bringing all the people there into the right attitude of mind by means of his works, and leading them to adore the power of Christ, he made them disciples of the Saviour's teaching. And from that time down to the present the whole city of the Edessenes has been devoted to the name of Christ,19 offering no common proof of the beneficence of our Saviour toward them also.
8 These things have been drawn from ancient accounts; but let us now turn again to the divine Scripture. When the first and greatest persecution was instigated by the Jews against the church of Jerusalem in connection with the martyrdom of Stephen, and when all the disciples, except the Twelve, were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria,20 some, as the divine Scripture says, went as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but could not yet venture to impart the word of faith to the nations, and therefore preached it to the Jews alone.21
9 During this time Paul was still persecuting the church, and entering the houses of believers was dragging men and women away and committing them to prison.22
10 Philip also, one of those who with Stephen had been entrusted with the diaconate, being among those who were scattered abroad, went down to Samaria,23 and being filled with the divine power, he first preached the word to the inhabitants of that country. And divine grace worked so mightily with him that even Simon Magus with many others was attracted by his words.24
11 Simon was at that time so celebrated, and had acquired, by his jugglery, such influence over those who were deceived by him, that he was thought to be the great power of God.25 But at this time, being amazed at the wonderful deeds wrought by Philip through the divine power, he reigned and counterfeited faith in Christ, even going so far as to receive baptism.26 12And what is surprising, the same thing is done even to this day by those who follow his most impure heresy.27 For they, after the manner of their forefather, slipping into the Church, like a pestilential and leprous disease greatly afflict those into whom they are able to infuse the deadly and terrible poison concealed in themselves.28 The most of these have been expelled as soon as they have been caught in their wickedness, as Simon himself, when detected by Peter, received the merited punishment.29
13 But as the preaching of the Saviour's Gospel was daily advancing, a certain providence led from the land of the Ethiopians an officer of the queen of that country,30 for Ethiopia even to the present day is ruled, according to ancestral custom, by a woman. He, first among the Gentiles, received of the mysteries of the divine word from Philip in consequence of a revelation, and having become the first-fruits of believers throughout the world, he is said to have been the first on returning to his country to proclaim the knowledge of the God of the universe and the life-giving sojourn of our Saviour among men;31 so that through him in truth the prophecy obtained its fulfillment, which declares that "Ethiopia stretcheth out her hand unto God."32
14 In addition to these, Paul, that "chosen vessel,"33 "not of men neither through men, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ himself and of God the Father who raised him from the dead,"34 was appointed an apostle, being made worthy of the call by a vision and by a voice which was uttered in a revelation from heaven.35
1 And when the wonderful resurrection and ascension of our Saviour were already noised abroad, in accordance with an ancient custom which prevailed among the rulers of the provinces, of reporting to the emperor the novel occurrences which took place in them, in order that nothing might escape him, Pontius Pilate informed Tiberius36 of the reports which were noised abroad through all Palestine concerning the resurrection of our Saviour Jesus from the dead.
2 He gave an account also of other wonders which he had learned of him, and how, after his death, having risen from the dead, he was now believed by many to be a God.37 They say that Tiberius referred the matter to the Senate,38 but that they rejected it, ostensibly because they had not first examined into the matter (for an ancient law prevailed that no one should be made a God by the Romans except by a vote and decree of the Senate), but in reality because the saving teaching of the divine Gospel did not need the confirmation and recommendation of men.
3 But although the Senate of the Romans rejected the proposition made in regard to our Saviour, Tiberius still retained the opinion which he had held at first, and contrived no hostile measures against Christ.39
4 These things are recorded by Tertullian,40 a man well versed in the laws of the Romans,41 and in other respects of high repute, and one of those especially distinguished in Rome.42 In his apology for the Christians,43 which was written by him in the Latin language, and has been translated into Greek,44 he writes as follows:45
5 "But in order that we may give an account of these laws from their origin, it was an ancient decree46 that no one should be consecrated a God by the emperor until the Senate had expressed its approval. Marcus Aurelius did thus concerning a certain idol, Alburnus.47 And this is a point in favor of our doctrine,48 that among you divine dignity is conferred by human decree. If a God does not please a man he is not made a God. Thus, according to this custom, it is necessary for man to be gracious to God.
6 Tiberius, therefore, under whom the name of Christ made its entry into the world, when this doctrine was reported to him from Palestine, where it first began, communicated with the Senate, making it clear to them that he was pleased with the doctrine.49 But the Senate, since it had not itself proved the matter, rejected it. But Tiberius continued to hold his own opinion, and threatened death to the accusers of the Christians."50 Heavenly providence had wisely instilled this into his mind in order that the doctrine of the Gospel, unhindered at its beginning, might spread in all directions throughout the world.
1 Thus, under the influence of heavenly power, and with the divine co-operation, the doctrine of the Saviour, like the rays of the sun, quickly illumined the whole world;51 and straightway, in accordance with the divine Scriptures,52 the voice of the inspired evangelists and apostles went forth through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
2 In every city and village, churches were quickly established, filled with multitudes of people like a replenished threshing-floor. And those whose minds, in consequence of errors which had descended to them from their forefathers, were fettered by the ancient disease of idolatrous superstition, were, by the power of Christ operating through the teaching and the wonderful works of his disciples, set free, as it were, from terrible masters, and found a release from the most cruel bondage. They renounced with abhorrence every species of demoniacal polytheism, and confessed that there was only one God, the creator of all things, and him they honored with the rites of true piety, through the inspired and rational worship which has been planted by our Saviour among men.
3 But the divine grace being now poured out upon the rest of the nations Cornelius, of Caesarea in Palestine, with his whole house, through a divine revelation and the agency of Peter, first received faith in Christ;53 and after him a multitude of other Greeks in Antioch,54 to whom those who were scattered by the persecution of Stephen had preached the Gospel. When the church of Antioch was now increasing and abounding, and a multitude of prophets from Jerusalem were on the ground,55 among them Barnabas and Paul and in addition many other brethren, the name of Christians first sprang up there,56 as from a fresh and life-giving fountain.57
4 And Agabus, one of the prophets who was with them, uttered a prophecy concerning the famine which was about to take place,58 and Paul and Barnabas were sent to relieve the necessities of the brethren.59
Chapter IV. After the Death of Tiberius, Caius Appointed Agrippa King of the Jews, Having Punished Herod with Perpetual Exile.
1 Tiberius died, after having reigned about twenty-two years,60 and Caius succeeded him in the empire.61 He immediately gave the government of the Jews to Agrippa,62 making him king over the tetrarchies of Philip and of Ly-sanias; in addition to which he bestowed upon him, not long afterward, the tetrarchy of Herod,63 having punished Herod (the one under whom the Saviour suffered64 ) and his wife Herodias with perpetual exile65 on account of numerous crimes. Josephus is a witness to these facts.66
2 Under this emperor, Philo67 became known; a man most celebrated not only among many of our own, but also among many scholars without the Church. He was a Hebrew by birth, but was inferior to none of those who held high dignities in Alexandria. How exceedingly he labored in the Scriptures and in the studies of his nation is plain to all from the work which he has done. How familiar he was with philosophy and with the liberal studies of foreign nations, it is not necessary to say, since he is reported to have surpassed all his contemporaries in the study of Platonic and Pythagorean. philosophy, to which he particularly devoted his attention.68
1 Philo has given us an account, in five books, of the misfortunes of the Jews under Caius.69 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;70 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.
2 Josephus also makes mention of these things in the eighteenth book of his Antiquities, in the following words:71 "A sedition having arisen in Alexandria between the Jews that dwell there and the Greeks,72 three deputies were chosen from each faction and went to Caius.
3 One of the Alexandrian deputies was Apion,73 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.
4 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,74 and not unskilled in philosophy, was prepared to enter upon a defense in reply to his accusations.
5 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."
6 Thus far Josephus. And Philo himself, in the work On the Embassy75 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.
7 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;76 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.77
1 After the death of Tiberius, Caius received the empire, and, besides innumerable other acts of tyranny against many people, he greatly afflicted especially the whole nation of the Jews78 These things we may learn briefly from the words of Philo, who writes as follows:79
2 "So great was the caprice of Caius in his conduct toward all, and especially toward the nation of the Jews. The latter he so bitterly hated that he appropriated to himself their places of worship in the other cities,80 and beginning with Alexandria he filled them with images and statues of himself (for in permitting others to erect them he really erected them himself). The temple in the holy city, which had hitherto been left untouched, and had been regarded as an inviolable asylum, he altered and transformed into a temple of his own, that it might be called the temple of the visible Jupiter, the younger Caius."81
3 Innumerable other terrible and almost indescribable calamities which came upon the Jews in Alexandria during the reign of the same emperor, are recorded by the same author in a second work, to which he gave the title, On the Virtues.82 With him agrees also Josephus, who likewise indicates that the misfortunes of the whole nation began with the time of Pilate, and with their daring crimes against the Saviour.83
4 Hear what be says in the second book of his Jewish War, where he writes as follows:84 "Pilate being sent to Judea as procurator by Tiberius, secretly carried veiled images of the emperor, called ensigns,85 to Jerusalem by night. The following day this caused the greatest disturbance among the Jews. For those who were near were confounded at the sight, beholding their laws, as it were, trampled under foot. For they allow no image to be set up in their city."
5 Comparing these things with the writings of the evangelists, you will see that it was not long before there came upon them the penalty for the exclamation which they had uttered under the same Pilate, when they cried out that they had no other king than Caesar.86
6 The same writer further records that after this another calamity overtook them. He writes as follows:87 "After this he stirred up another tumult by snaking use of the holy treasure, which is called Corban,88 in the construction of an aqueduct three hundred stadia in length.89
7 The multitude were greatly displeased at it, and when Pilate was in Jerusalem they surrounded his tribunal and gave utterance to loud complaints. But he, anticipating the tumult, had distributed through the crowd armed soldiers disguised in citizen's clothing, forbidding them to use the sword, but commanding them to strike with clubs those who should make an outcry. To them he now gave the preconcerted signal from the tribunal. And the Jews being beaten, many of them perished in consequence of the blows, while many others were trampled under foot by their own countrymen in their flight, and thus lost their lives. But the multitude, overawed by the fate of those who were slain, held their peace."
8 In addition to these the same author records90 many other tumults which were stirred up in Jerusalem itself, and shows that from that time seditions and wars and mischievous plots followed each other in quick succession, and never ceased in the city and in all Judea until finally the siege of Vespasian overwhelmed them. Thus the divine vengeance overtook the Jews for the crimes which they dared to commit against Christ.
It is worthy of note that Pilate himself, who was governor in the time of our Saviour, is reported to have fallen into such misfortunes under Caius, whose times we are recording, that he was forced to become his own murderer and executioner;91 and thus divine vengeance, as it seems, was not long in overtaking him. This is stated by those Greek historians who have recorded the Olympiads, together with the respective events which have taken place in each period.92
1 Caius had held the power not quite four years,93 when he was succeeded by the emperor Claudius. Under him the world was visited with a famine,94 which writers that are entire strangers to our religion have recorded in their histories.95 And thus the prediction of Agabus recorded in the Acts of the Apostles,96 according to which the whole world was to be visited by a famine, received its fulfillment.
2 And Luke, in the Acts, after mentioning the famine in the time of Claudius, and stating that the brethren of Antioch, each according to his ability, sent to the brethren of Judea by the hands of Paul and Barnabas,97 adds the following account.
1 "98 Now about that time" (it is clear that he means the time of Claudius) "Herod the King99 stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the Church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword."
2 And concerning this James, Clement, in the seventh book of his Hypotyposes,100 relates a story which is worthy of mention; telling it as he received it from those who had lived before him. He says that the one who led James to the judgment-seat, when he saw him bearing his testimony, was moved, and confessed that he was himself also a Christian.
3 They were both therefore, he says, led away together; and on the way he begged James to forgive him. And he, after considering a little, said, "Peace be with thee," and kissed him. And thus they were both beheaded at the same time.
4 And then, as the divine Scripture says,101 Herod, upon the death of James, seeing that the deed pleased the Jews, attacked Peter also and committed him to prison, and would have slain him if he had not, by the divine appearance of an angel who came to him by night, been wonderfully released from his bonds, and thus liberated for the service of the Gospel. Such was the providence of God in respect to Peter.
Chapter X. Agrippa, Who Was Also Called Herod, Having Persecuted the Apostles, Immediately Experienced the Divine Vengeance.
1 The consequences of the king's undertaking against the apostles were no, long deferred, but the avenging minister of divine justice overtook him immediately after his plots against them, as the Book of Acts records.102 For when he had journeyed to Caesarea, on a notable feast-day, clothed in a splendid and royal garment, he delivered an address to the people from a lofty throne in front of the tribunal. And when all the multitude applauded the speech, as if it were the voice of a god and not of a man, the Scripture relates that an angel of the Lord smote him, and being eaten of worms he gave up the ghost.103
2 We must admire the account of Josephus for its agreement with the divine Scriptures in regard to this wonderful event; for he clearly bears witness to the truth in the nineteenth book of his Antiquities, where he relates the wonder in the following words:104
3 "He had completed the third year of his reign over all Judea105 when hecame to Caesarea, which was formerly called Strato's Tower.106 There he held games in honor of Caesar, learning that this was a festival observed in behalf of Caesar's safety.107 At this festival was collected a great multitude of the highest and most honorable men in the province.
4 And on the second day of the games he proceeded to the theater at break of day, wearing a garment entirely of silver and of wonderful texture. And there the silver, illuminated by the reflection of the sun's earliest rays, shone marvelously, gleaming so brightly as to produce a sort of fear and terror in those who gazed upon him.
5 And immediately his flatterers, some from one place, others from another, raised up their voices in a way that was not for his good, calling him a god, and saying, `Be thou merciful; if up to this time we have feared thee as a man, henceforth we confess that thou art superior to the nature of mortals.'
6 The king did not rebuke them, nor did he reject their impiousflattery. But after a little, looking up, he saw an angel sitting above his head.108 And this he quickly perceived would be the cause of evil as it had once been the cause of good fortune,109 and he was smitten with a heart-piercing pain.
7 And straightway distress, beginning with the greatest violence, seized his bowels. And looking upon his friends he said, `I, your god, am now commanded to depart this life; and fate thus I on the spot disproves the lying words you have just uttered concerning me. He who has been called immortal by you is now led away to die; but our destiny must be accepted as God has determined it. For we have passed our life by no means ingloriously, but in that splendor which is pronounced happiness.'110
8 And when he had said this he labored with an increase of pain. He was accordingly carried in haste to the palace, while the report spread among all that the king would undoubtedly soon die. But the multitude, with their wives and children, sitting on sackcloth after the custom of their fathers, implored God in behalf of the king, and every place was filled with lamentation and tears.111 And the king as he lay in a lofty chamber, and saw them below lying prostrate on the ground, could not refrain from weeping himself.
9 And after suffering continually for five days with pain in the bowels, he departed this life, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and in the seventh year of his reign.112 Four years he ruled under the Emperor Caius-three of them over the tetrarchy of Philip, to which was added in the fourth year that of Herod113 -and three years during the reign of the Emperor Claudius."
10 I marvel greatly that Josephus, in these things as well as in others, so fully agrees with the divine Scriptures. But if there should seem to any one to be a disagreement in respect to the name of the king, the time at least and the events show that the same person is meant, whether the change of name has been caused by the error of a copyist, or is due to the fact that he, like so many, bore two names.114
1 Luke, in the Acts, introduces Gamaliel as saying, at the consultation which was held concerning the apostles, that at the time referred to,115 "rose up Theudas boasting himself to be somebody; who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered."116 Let us therefore add the account of Josephus concerning this man. He records in the work mentioned just above, the following circumstances:117
2 "While Fadus was procurator of Judea118 a certain impostor called Theudas119 persuaded a very great multitude to take their possessions and follow him to the river Jordan. For he said that he was a prophet, and that the river should be divided at his command, and afford them an easy passage.
3 And with these words he deceived many. But Fadus did not permit them to enjoy their folly, but sent a troop of horsemen against them, who fell upon them unexpectedly and slew many of them and took many others alive, while they took Theudas himself captive, and cut off his head and carried it to Jerusalem." Besides this he also makes mention of the famine, which took place in the reign of Claudius, in the following words.
1120 "And at this time121 it came to pass that the great famine122 took place in Judea, in which the queen Helen,123 having purchased grain from Egypt with large sums, distributed it to the needy."
2 You will find this statement also in agreement with the Acts of the Apostles, where it is said that the disciples at Antioch, "each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren that dwelt in Judea; which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Paul."124
3 But splendid monuments125 of this Helen, Of whom the historian has made mention, are still shown in the suburbs of the city which is now called Aelia,126 But she is said to have been queen of the Adiabeni.127
Chapter XIII. Simon Magus.128
1 But faith in our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ having now been diffused among all men,129 the enemy of man's salvation contrived a plan for seizing the imperial city for himself. He conducted thither the above-mentioned Simon,130 aided him in his deceitful arts, led many of the inhabitants of Rome astray, and thus brought them into his own power.
2 This is stated by Justin,131 one of our distinguished writers who lived not long after the time of the apostles. Concerning him I shall speak in the proper place.132 Take and read the work of this man, who in the first Apology133 which he addressedto Antonine in behalf of our religion writes as follows:134
3 "And after the ascension ofthe Lord into heaven the demons put forward certain men who said they were gods, and who were not only allowed by you to go unpersecuted, but were even deemed worthy of honors. One of them was Simon, a Samaritan of the village of Gitto,135 who in the reign of Claudius Caesar136 performed in your imperial city some mighty acts of magic by the art of demons operating in him, and was considered a god, and as a god was honored by you with a statue, which was erected in the river Tiber,137 between the two bridges, and bore this inscription in the Latin tongue, Simoni Deo Sancto, that is, To Simon the Holy God.138
4 And nearly all the Samaritans and a few even of other nations confess and worship him as the first God. And there went around with him at that time a certain Helena139 who had formerly been a prostitute in Tyre of Phoenicia; and her they call the first idea that proceeded from him."140
5 Justin relates these things, and Irenaeus also agrees with him in the first book of his work, Against Heresies, where he gives an account of the man141 and of his profane and impure teaching. It would be superfluous to quote his account here, for it is possible for those who wish to know the origin and the lives and the false doctrines of each of the heresiarchs that have followed him, as well as the customs practiced by them all, to find them treated at length in the above-mentioned work of Irenaeus.
6 We have understood that Simon was the author of all heresy.142 From his time down to the present those who have followed his heresy have reigned the sober philosophy of the Christians, which is celebrated among all on account of its purity of life. But they nevertheless have embraced again the superstitions of idols, which they seemed to have renounced; and they fall down before pictures and images of Simon himself and of the above-mentioned Helena who was with him; and they venture to worship them with incense and sacrifices and libations.
7 But those matters which they keep more secret than these, in regard to which they say that one upon first hearing them would be astonished, and, to use one of the written phrases in vogue among them, would be confounded,143 are in truth full of amazing things, and of madness and folly, being of such a sort that it is impossible not only to commit them to writing, but also for modest men even to utter them with the lips on account of their excessive baseness and lewdness.144
8 For what ever could be conceived of, viler than thevilest thing - all that has been outdone by this most abominable sect, which is composed of those who make a sport of those miserable females that are literally overwhelmed with all kinds of vices.145
1 The evil power,146 who hates all that isgood and plots against the salvation of men, constituted Simon at that time the father and author of such wickedness,147 as if to make him a mighty antagonist of the great, inspired apostles of our Saviour.
2 For that divine and celestial grace which co-operates with its ministers, by their appearance and presence, quickly extinguished the kindled flame of evil, and humbled and cast down through them "every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God."148
3 Wherefore neither the conspiracy of Simon nor that of any of the others who arose at that period could accomplish anything in those apostolic times. For everything was conquered and subdued by the splendors of the truth and by the divine word itself which had but lately begun to shine from heaven upon men, and which was then flourishing upon earth, and dwelling in the apostles themselves.
4 Immediately149 the above-mentioned impostor was smitten in the eyes of his mind by a divine and miraculous flash, and after the evil deeds done by him had been first detected by the apostle Peter in Judea,150 he fled and made a great journey across the sea from the East to the West, thinking that only thus could he live according to his mind.
5 And coming to the city of Rome,151 by the mighty co-operation of that power which was lying in wait there, he was in a short time so successful in his undertaking that those who dwelt there honored him as a god by the erection of a statue.152
6 But this did not last long. For immediately, during the reign of Claudius, the all-good and gracious Providence, which watches over all things, led Peter, that strongest and greatest of the apostles, and the one who on account of his virtue was the speaker for all the others, to Rome153 against this great corrupter of life. He like a noble commander of God, clad in divine armor, carried the costly merchandise of the light of the understanding from the East to those who dwelt in the West, proclaiming the light itself, and the word which brings salvation to souls, and preaching the kingdom of heaven.154
1 And thus when the divine word had made its home among them,155 the power of Simon was quenched and immediately destroyed, together with the man himself.156 And so greatly did the splendor of piety illumine the minds of Peter's hearers that they were not satisfied with hearing once only, and were not content with the unwritten teaching of the divine Gospel, but with all sorts of entreaties they besought Mark,157 a follower of Peter, and the one whose Gospel is extant, that he would leave them a written monument of the doctrine which had been orally communicated to them. Nor did they cease until they had prevailed with the man, and had thus become the occasion of the written Gospel which bears the name of Mark.158
2 And they say that Peter when he had learned, through a revelation of the Spirit, of that which had been done, was pleased with the zeal of the men, and that the work obtained the sanction of his authority for the purpose of being used in the churches.159 Clement in the eighth book of his Hypotyposes gives this account, and with him agrees the bishop of Hierapolis named Papias.160 And Peter makes mention of Mark in his first epistle which they say that he wrote in Rome itself, as is indicated by him, when he calls the city, by a figure, Babylon, as he does in the following words: "The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son."161
1 And they say that this Mark was the first1 that was sent to Egypt, and that he proclaimed the Gospel which he had written, and first established churches in Alexandria.162
2 And the multitude of believers, both men and women, that were collected there at the very outset, and lived lives of the most philosophical and excessive asceticism, was so great, that Philo thought it worth while to describe their pursuits, their meetings, their entertainments, and their whole manner of life."163
1 It is also said that Philo in the reign of Claudius became acquainted at Rome with Peter, who was then preaching there.164 Nor is this indeed improbable, for the work of which we have spoken, and which was composed by him some years later, clearly contains those rules of the Church which are even to this day observed among us.
2 And since he describes as accurately as possible the life of our ascetics, it is clear that he not only knew, but that he also approved, while he venerated and extolled, the apostolic men of his time, who were as it seems of the Hebrew race, and hence observed, after the manner of the Jews, the most of the customs of the ancients.
3 In the work to which he gave the title, On a Contemplative Life or on Suppliants,165 after affirming in the first place that he will add to those things which he is about to relate nothing contrary to truth or of his own invention,166 he says that these men were called Therapeutae and the women that were with them Therapeutrides.167 He then adds the reasons for such a name, explaining it from the fact that they applied remedies and healed the souls of those who came to them, by relieving them like physicians, of evil passions, or from the fact that they served and worshiped the Deity in purity and sincerity.
4 Whether Philo himself gave them this name, employing an epithet well suited to their mode of life, or whether the first of them really called themselves so in the beginning, since the name of Christians was not yet everywhere known, we need not discuss here.
5 He bears witness, however, that first of all 5 they renounce their property. When they begin the philosophical168 mode of life, he says, they give up their goods to their relatives, and then, renouncing all the cares of life, they go forth beyond the walls and dwell in lonely fields and gardens, knowing well that intercourse with people of a different character is unprofitable and harmful. They did this at that time, as seems probable, under the influence of a spirited and ardent faith, practicing in emulation the prophets' mode of life.
6 For in the Acts of the Apostles, a work universally acknowledged as authentic,169 it is recorded that all the companions of the apostles sold their possessions and their property and distributed to all according to the necessity of each one, so that no one among them was in want. "For as many as were possessors of lands or houses," as the account says, "sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet, so that distribution was made unto every man according as he had need."170
7 Philo bears witness to facts very much like those here described and then adds the following account:171 "Everywhere in the world is this race172 found. For it was fitting that both Greek173 and Barbarian should share in what is perfectly good. But the race particularly abounds in Egypt, in each of its so-called nomes,174 and especially about Alexandria.
8 The best men from every quarter emigrate, as if to a colony of the Therapeut's fatherland,175 to a certain very suitable spot which lies above the lake Maria176 upon a low hill excellently situated on account of its security and the mildness of the atmosphere."
9 And then a little further on, after describing the kind of houses which they had, he speaks as follows concerning their churches, which were scattered about here and there:177 "In each house there is a sacred apartment which is called a sanctuary and monastery,178 where, quite alone, they perform the mysteries of the religious life. They bring nothing into it, neither drink nor food, nor any of the other things which contribute to the necessities of the body, but only the laws, and the inspired oracles of the prophets, and hymns and such other things as augment and makeperfect their knowledge and piety."
10 And after some other matters he says:179
"The whole interval, from morning to evening, is for them a time of exercise. For they read the holy Scriptures, and explain the philosophy of their fathers in an allegorical manner, regarding the written words as symbols of hidden truth which is communicated in obscure figures.
11 They have also writings of ancient men, who were the founders of their sect, and who left many monuments of the allegorical method. These they use as models, and imitate their principles."
12 These things seem to have been stated by a man who had heard them expounding their sacred writings. But it is highly probable that the works of the ancients, which he says they had, were the Gospels and the writings of the apostles, and probably some expositions of the ancient prophets, such as are contained in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and in many others of Paul's Epistles.
13 Then again he writes as follows concerning the new psalms which they composed:180 "So that they not only spend their time in meditation, but they also compose songs and hymns to God in every variety of metre and melody, though they divide them, of course, into measures of more than common solemnity."
14 The same book contains an account of many other things, but it seemed necessary to select those facts which exhibit the characteristics of the ecclesiastical mode of life.
15 But if any one thinks that what has been said is not peculiar to the Gospel polity, but that it can be applied to others besides those mentioned, let him be convinced by the subsequent words of the same author, in which, if he is unprejudiced, he will find undisputed testimony on this subject. Philo's words are as follows:181
16 "Having laid down temperance as a sort of foundation in the soul, they build upon it the other virtues. None of them may take food or drink before sunset, since they regard philosophizing as a work worthy of the light, but attention to the wants of the body as proper only in the darkness, and therefore assign the day to the former, but to the latter a small portion of the night.
17 But some, in whom a great desire for knowledge dwells, forget to take food for three days; and some are so delighted and feast so luxuriously upon wisdom, which furnishes doctrines richly and without stint, that they abstain even twice as long as this, and are accustomed, after six days, scarcely to take necessary food." These statements of Philo we regard as referring clearly and indisputably to those of our communion.
18 But if after these things any one still obstinately persists in denying the reference, let him renounce his incredulity and be convinced by yet more striking examples, which are to be found nowhere else than in the evangelical religion of the Christians.182
19 For they say that there were women also with those of whom we are speaking, and that the most of them were aged virgins183 who had preserved their chastity, not out of necessity, as some of the priestesses among the Greeks,184 but rather by their own choice, through zeal and a desire for wisdom. And that in their earnest desire to live with it as their companion they paid no attention to the pleasures of the body, seeking not mortal but immortal progeny, which only the pious soul is able to bear of itself.
20 Then after a little he adds still more emphatically:185 "They expound the Sacred Scriptures figuratively by means of allegories. For the whole law seems to these men to resemble a living organism, of which the spoken words constitute the body, while the hidden sense stored up within the words constitutes the soul. This hidden meaning has first been particularly studied by this sect, which sees, revealed as in a mirror of names, the surpassing beauties of the thoughts."
21 Why is it necessary to add to these things their meetings and the respective occupations of the men and of the women during those meetings, and the practices which are even to the present day habitually observed by us, especially such as we are accustomed to observe at the feast of the Saviour's passion, with fasting and night watching and study of the divine Word.
22 These things the above-mentioned author has related in his own work, indicating a mode of life which has been preserved to the present time by us alone,recording especially the vigils kept in connectionwith the great festival, and the exercises performed during those vigils, and the hymns customarily recited by us, and describing how, while one sings regularly in time, the others listen in silence, and join in chanting only the close of the hymns; and how, on the days referred to they sleep on the ground on beds of straw, andto use his own words,186 "taste no wine at all, norany flesh, but water is their only drink, and therelish with their bread is salt and hyssop."
23 In addition to this Philo describes the order of dignities which ists among those who carry on the services of the church, mentioning the diaconate, and the office of bishop, which takes the precedence over all the others.187 But whosoever desires a more accurate knowledge of these matters may get it from the history already cited.
24 But that Philo, when he wrote these things, had in view the first heralds of the Gospel and the customs handed down from the beginning by the apostles, is clear to every one.
Chapter XVIII. The Works of Philo188 That Have Came Down to Us.
1 Copious in language, comprehensive in thought, sublime and elevated in his views of divine Scripture, Philo has produced manifold and various expositions of the sacred books. On the one hand, he expounds in order the events recorded in Genesis in the books to which he gives the title Allegories of the Sacred Laws;189 on the other hand, he makes successive divisions of the chapters in the Scriptures which are the subject of investigation, and gives objections and solutions, in the books which he quite suitably calls Questions and Answers an Genesis and Exodus.190
2 There are, besides these, treatises expressly worked out by him on certain subjects, such as the two books On Agriculture,191 and the same number On Drunkenness;192 and some others distinguished by different titles corresponding to the contents of each; for instance, Concerning the things which the Sober Mind desires and execrates,193 On the Confusion of Tongues,194 On Flight and Discovery,195 On Assembly for the sake of Instruction,196 On the question, `Who is heir to things divine?' or On the division of things into equal and unequal,197 and still further the work On the three Virtues which with others have been described by Moses.198
3 In addition to these is the work On those whose Names have been changed and why they have been changed,199 in which he says that he hadwritten also two hooks On Covenants.200
4 And there is also a work of his On Emigration,201 and one On the life of a Wise Man made perfect in Righteousness, or On unwritten Laws;202 and still further the work On Giants or On the Immutability of God,203 and a first, second, third, fourth and fifth book On the proposition, that Dreams according to Moses are sent by God.204 These are the hooks on Genesis that have come down to us.
5 But on Exodus we are acquainted with the first, second, third, fourth and fifth books of Questions and Answers;205 also with that On the Tabernacle,206 and that On the Ten Commandments,207 and the four books On the laws which refer especially to the principal divisions of the ten Commandments,208 and another On animals intended for sacrifice and On the kinds of sacrifice,209 and another On the rewards fixed in the law for the good, and on the punishments and curses fixed for the wicked.210
6 In addition to all these there are extantalso some single-volumed works of his; as for instance, the work On Providence,211 and the book composed by him On the Jews,212 and The Statesman;213 and still further, Alexander, or On the possession of reason by the irrational animals.214 Besides these there is a work On the proposition that every wicked man is a slave, to which is subjoined the work On the proposition that every goad man is free.215
7 After these was composed by him the work On the contemplative life, or On suppliants,216 from which we have drawn the facts concerning the life of the apostolic men; and still further, the Interpretation of the Hebrew names in the law and in the prophets are said to be the result of his industry.217
8 And he is said to have read in the presence of the whole Roman Senate during the reign of Claudius218 the work which he had written, when he came to Rome under Caius, concerning Caius' hatred of the gods, and to which, with ironical reference to its character, he had given the title On the Virtues.219 And his discourses were so much admired as to be deemed worthy of a place in the libraries.
9 At this time, while Paul was completing his journey "from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum,"220 Claudius drove the Jews out of Rome; and Aquila and Priscilla, leaving Rome with the other Jews, came to Asia, and there abode with the apostle Paul, who was confirming the churches of that region whose foundations he had newly laid. The sacred book of the Acts informs us also of these things.221
1 While Claudius was still emperor, it happened that so great a tumult and disturbance took place in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, that thirty thousand of those Jews alone who were forcibly crowded together at the gate of the temple perished,222 being trampled under foot by one another. Thus the festival became a season of mourning for all the nation, and there was weeping in every house. These things are related literally223 by Josephus.
2 But Claudius appointed Agrippa,224 son of Agrippa, king of the Jews, having sent Felix225 as procurator of the whole country of Samaria and Galilee, and of the land called Perea.226 And after he had reigned thirteen years and eight months227 he died, and left Nero as his successor in the empire.
1 Josephus again, in the twentieth book of his Antiquities, relates the quarrel which arose among the priests during the reign of Nero, while Felix was procurator of Judea.
2 His words are as follows228 : "There arose a quarrel between the high priests on the one hand and the priests and leaders of the people of Jerusalem on the other.229 And each of them collected a body of the boldest and most restless men, and put himself at their head, and whenever they met they hurled invectives and stones at each other. And there was no one that would interpose; but these things were done at will as if in a city destitute of a ruler.
3 And so great was the shamelessness and audacity of the high priests that they dared to send their servants to the threshing-floors to seize the tithes due to the priests; and thus those of the priests that were poor were seen to be perishing of want. In this way did the violence of the factions prevail over all justice."
4 And the same author again relates that about the same time there sprang up in Jerusalem a certain kind of robbers,230 " who byday," as he says, "and in the middle of the city slew those who met them."
5 For, especially at the feasts, they mingled with the multitude, and with short swords, which they concealed under their garments, they stabbed the most distinguished men. And when they fell, the murderers themselves were among those who expressed their indignation. And thus on account of the confidence which was reposed in them by all, they remained undiscovered.
6 The first that was slain by them was Jonathan the high priest;231 and after him many were killed every day, until the fear became worse than the evil itself, each one, as in battle, hourly expecting death.
1 After other matters he proceeds as follows:232 "But the Jews were afflicted with a greater plague than these by the Egyptian false prophet.233 For there appeared in the land an impostor who aroused faith in himself as a prophet, and collected about thirty thousand of those whom he had deceived, and led them from the desert to the so-called Mount of Olives whence he was prepared to enter Jerusalem by force and to overpower the Roman garrison and seize the government of the people, using those who made the attack with him as body guards.
2 But Felix anticipated his attack, and went out to meet him with the Roman legionaries, and all the people joined in the defense, so that when the battle was fought the Egyptian fled with a few followers, but the most of them were destroyed or taken captive."
3 Josephus relates these events in the secondbook of his History.234 But it is worth while comparing the account of the Egyptian given here with that contained in the Acts of the Apostles. In the time of Felix it was said to Paul by the centurion in Jerusalem, when the multitude of the Jews raised a disturbance against the apostle, "Art not thou he Who before these days made an uproar, and led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?"235 These are the events which took place in the time of Felix.236
Chapter XXII. Paul Having Been Sent Bound from Judea to Rome, Made His Defense, and Was Acquitted of Every Charge.
1 Festus237 was sent by Nero to be Felix's successor. Under him Paul, having made his defense, was sent bound to Rome238 Aristarchus was with him, whom he also somewhere in his epistles quite naturally calls his fellow-prisoner.239 And Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles,240 brought his history to a close at this point, after stating that Paul spent two whole years at Rome as a prisoner at large, and preached the word of God without restraint.241
2 Thus after he had made his defense it is said that the apostle was sent again upon the ministry of preaching,242 and that upon coming to the same city a second time he suffered martyrdom.243 In this imprisonment he wrote his second epistle to Timothy,244 in which he mentions his first defense and his impending death.
3 But hear his testimony on these matters: "At my first answer," he says, "no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."245
4 He plainly indicates in these words that 4 on the former occasion, in order that the preaching might be fulfilled by him, he was rescued from the mouth of the lion, referring, in this expression, to Nero, as is probable on account of the latter's cruelty. He did not therefore afterward add the similar statement, "He will rescue me from the mouth of the lion"; for he saw in the spirit that his end would not be long delayed.
5 Wherefore he adds to the words, "And he delivered me from the mouth of the lion," this sentence: "The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom,"246 indicating his speedy martyrdom; which he also foretells still more clearly in the same epistle, when he writes, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand."247
6 In his second epistle to Timothy, moreover, he indicates that Luke was with him when he wrote,248 but athis first defense not even he.249 Whence it is probable that Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles at that time, continuing his history down to the period when he was with Paul.250
7 But these things have been adduced by us to show that Paul's martyrdom did not take place at the time of that Roman sojourn which Luke records.
8 It is probable indeed that as Nero was more disposed to mildness in the beginning, Paul's defense of his doctrine was more easily received; but that when he had advanced to the commission of lawless deeds of daring, he made the apostles as well as others the subjects of his attacks.251
1 But after Paul, in consequence of his appeal to Caesar, had been sent to Rome by Festus, the Jews, being frustrated in their hope of entrapping him by the snares which they had laid for him, turned against James, the brother of the Lord,252 to whom the episcopal seat at Jerusalem bad been entrusted by the apostles.253 The following daring measures were undertaken by them against him.
2 Leading him into their midst they demanded of him that he should renounce faith in Christ in the presence of all the people. But, contrary to the opinion of all, with a clear voice, and with greater boldness than they had anticipated, he spoke out before the whole multitude and confessed that our Saviour and Lord Jesus is the Son of God. But they were unable to bearlonger the testimony of the man who, on account of the excellence of ascetic virtue254 and of piety which he exhibited in his life, wasesteemed by all as the most just of men, andconsequently they slew him. Opportunity forthis deed of violence was furnished by the prevailing anarchy, which was caused by the fact that Festus had died just at this time in Judea,and that the province was thus without a governor and head.255
3 The manner of James' death has been already indicated by the above-quoted words of Clement, who records that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, and was beaten to death with a club.256 But Hegesippus,257 who lived immediately after the apostles, gives the most accurate account in the fifth book of his Memoirs.258 He writes as follows:
4 "James, the brother of the Lord, succeeded to the government of the Church in conjunction with the apostles.259 He has been called the Just260 by all from the time of our Saviour to the present day; for there were many that bore the name of James.
5 He was holy from his mother's womb; and he drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh. No razor came upon his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not use the bath.
6 He alone was permitted to enter into the holy place; for he wore not woolen but linen garments. And he was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel, in consequence of his constantly bending them in his worship of God, and asking forgiveness for the people.261
7 Because of his exceeding great justice he was called the Just, and Oblias,262 which signifies in Greek, `Bulwark of the people' and `Justice,'263 in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him.264
8 Now some of the seven sects, which existed among the people and which have been mentioned by me in the Memoirs,265 asked him, `What is the gate of Jesus?'266 and he replied that he was the Saviour.
9 On account of these words some believed that Jesus is the Christ. But the sects mentioned above did not believe either in a resurrection or in one's coming to give to every man according to his works.267 But as many as believed did so on account of James.
10 Therefore when many even of the rulersbelieved, there was a commotion among the Jews and Scribes and Pharisees, who said that there was danger that the whole peoplewould be looking for Jesus as the Christ. Coming therefore in a body to James they said, `We entreat thee, restrain the people; for they are gone astray in regard to Jesus, as if he were the Christ.268 We entreat thee to persuade all that have come to the feast of the Passover concerning Jesus; for we all have confidence in thee. For we bear thee witness, as do all the people, that thou art just, and dost not respect persons.269
11 Do thou therefore persuade themultitude not to be led astray concerning Jesus. For the whole people, and all of us also, have confidence in thee. Stand therefore upon the pinnacle of the temple,270 that from that high position thou mayest be clearly seen, and that thy words may be readily heard by all the people. For all the tribes, with the Gentiles also, are come together on account of the Passover.'
12 The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and cried out to him and said: `Thou just one, in whom we ought all to have: confidence, forasmuch as the people are led, astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us, what is the gate of Jesus.'271
13 And he answered with a loud voice, `Why do ye ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man? He himself sitteth in heaven at the right hand of the great Power, and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven.'272
14 And when many were fully convinced and gloried in the testimony of James, and said, `Hosanna to the Son of David,' these same Scribes and Pharisees said again to one another, `We have done badly in supplying such testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, in order that they may be afraid to believe him.'
15 And they cried out, saying, `Oh! oh! the just man is also in error.' And they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah,273 `Let us take away274 the just man, because he is troublesome to us: therefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings.'
16 So they went up and threw down the just man, and said to each other, `Let us stone James the Just.' And they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall; but he turned and knelt down and said, `I entreat thee, Lord God our Father,275 forgive them, for they know not what they do.'276
17 And while they were thus stoning him one of the priests of the sons of Rechab, the son of the Rechabites,277 who are mentioned by Jeremiah the prophet,278 cried out, saying, `Cease, what do ye? The just one prayeth for you.'279
18 And one of them, who was a fuller, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just man on the head. And thus he suffered martyrdom.280 And they buried him on the spot, by the temple, and his monument still remains by the temple.281 He became a true witness, both to Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ. And immediately Vespasian besieged them."282
19 These things are related at length by Hegesippus, who is in agreement with Clement.283 James was so admirable a man and so celebrated among all for his justice, that the more sensible even of the Jews were of the opinion that this was the cause of the siege of Jerusalem, which happened to them immediately after his martyrdom for no other reason than their daring act against him.
20 Josephus, at least, has not hesitated to testify this in his writings, where he says,284 "These things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was a brother of Jesus, that is called the Christ. For the Jews slew him, although he was a most just man."
21 And the same writer records his death also in the twentieth book of his Antiquities in the following words:285 "But the emperor, when he learned of the death of Festus, sent Albinus286 to be procurator of Judea. But the younger Ananus,287 who, as we have already said,288 had obtained the high priesthood, was of an exceedingly bold and reckless disposition. He belonged, moreover, to the sect of the Sadducees, who are the most cruel of all the Jews in the execution of judgment, as we have already shown.289
22 Ananus, therefore, being of this character, and supposing that he had a favorable opportunity on account of the fact that Festus was dead, and Albinus was still on the way, called together the Sanhedrim, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, the so-called Christ, James by name, together with some others,290 and accused them of violating the law, and condemned them to be stoned.291
23 But those in the city who seemed most moderate and skilled in the law were very angry at this, and sent secretly to the king,292 requesting him to order Ananus to cease such proceedings. For he had not done right even this first time. And certain of them also went to meet Albinus, who was journeying from Alexandria, and reminded him that it was not lawful for Ananus to summon the Sanhedrim without his knowledge.293
24 And Albinus, being persuaded by their representations, wrote in anger to Ananus, threatening him with punishment. And the king, Agrippa, in consequence, deprived him, of the high priesthood,294 which he had held threemonths, and appointed Jesus, the son of Damnaeus."295
25 These things are recorded in regard to James, who is said to be the author of the first of the so-called catholic296 epistles. But it is to be observed that it is disputed;297 at least, not many of the ancients have mentioned it, as is the case likewise with the epistle that bears the name of Jude,298 which is also one of the seven so-called catholic epistles. Nevertheless we know that these also,299 with the rest, have been read publicly in very many churches.300
1 When Nero was in the eighth year of his reign,301 Annianus302 succeeded Mark the evangelist in the administration of the parish of Alexandria.303
Chapter XXV. The Persecution Under Nero in Which Paul and Peter Were Honored at Rome with Martyrdom in Behalf of Religion.
1 When the government of Nero was now firmly established, he began to plunge into unholy pursuits, and armed himself even against the religion of the God of the universe.
2 To describe the greatness of his depravity does not lie within the plan of the present work. As there are many indeed that have recorded his history in most accurate narratives,304 every one may at his pleasure learn from them the coarseness of the man's extraordinary madness, under the influence of which, after he had accomplished the destruction of so many myriads without any reason, he ran into such blood-guiltiness that he did not spare even his nearest relatives and dearest friends, but destroyed his mother and his brothers and his wife,305 with very many others of his own family as he would private and public enemies, with various kinds of deaths.
3 But with all these things this particular in the catalogue of his crimes was still wanting, that he was the first of the emperors who showed himself an enemy of the divine religion.
4 The Roman Tertullian is likewise a witness of this. He writes as follows:306 "Examine your records. There you will find that Nero was the first that persecuted this doctrine,307 particularly then when after subduing all the east, he exercised his cruelty against all at Rome.308 We glory in having such a man the leader in our punishment. For whoever knows him can understand that nothing was condemned by Nero unless it was something of great excellence."
5 Thus publicly announcing himself as the first among God's chief enemies, he was led on to the slaughter of the apostles. It is, therefore, recorded that Paul was beheaded in Rome itself,309 and that Peter likewise was crucified under Nero.310 This account of Peter and Paul is substantiated by the fact that their names are preserved in the cemeteries of that place even to the present day.
6 It is confirmed likewise by Caius,311 a member of the Church,312 who arose313 under Zephyrinus,314 bishop of Rome. He, in a published disputation with Proclus,315 the leader of the Phrygian heresy,316 speaks as follows concerning the places where the sacred corpses of the aforesaid apostles are laid:
7 "But317 I can show the trophies of the apostles. For if you will go to the Vatican318 or to the Ostian way,319 you will find the trophies of those who laid the foundations of this church."320
8 And that they both suffered martyrdom at the same time is stated by Dionysius, bishop of Corinth,321 in his epistle to the Romans,322 in the following words: "You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and likewise taught us in our Corinth.323 And they taught together in like manner in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time."324 I have quoted these things in order that the truth of the history might be still more confirmed.
Chapter XXVI. The Jews, Afflicted with Innumerable Evils, Commenced the Last War Against the Romans.
1 Josephus again, after relating many things in connection with the calamity which came upon the whole Jewish nation, records,325 in addition to many other circumstances, that a great many326 of the most honorable among the Jews were scourged in Jerusalem itself and then crucified by Florus.327 It happened that he was procurator of Judea when the war began to be kindled, in the twelfth year of Nero.328
2 Josephus says329 that at that time a terrible commotion was stirred up throughout all Syria in consequence of the revolt of the Jews, and that everywhere the latter were destroyed without mercy, like enemies, by the inhabitants of the cities, "so that one could see cities filled with unburied corpses, and the dead bodies of the aged scattered about with the bodies of infants, and women without even a covering for their nakedness, and the whole province full of indescribable calamities, while the dread of those things that were threatened was greater than the sufferings themselves which they anywhere endured."330 Such is the account of Josephus; and such was the condition of the Jews at that time.
