1
[
197]
AND now Caesar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into
Judea, as procurator. But the king deprived Joseph of the high priesthood,
and bestowed the succession to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who was
also himself called Ananus. Now the report goes that this eldest Ananus
proved a most fortunate man; for he had five sons who had all performed
the office of a high priest to God, and who had himself enjoyed that dignity
a long time formerly, which had never happened to any other of our high
priests. But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took
the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he
was also of the sect of the Sadducees,
2
who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews,
as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition,
he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority].
Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled
the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus,
who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some
of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as
breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned: but as for those who
seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy
at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done; they also sent
to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus that he should act
so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified;
nay, some of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey
from Alexandria, and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to
assemble a sanhedrim without his consent.
3
Whereupon Albinus complied with what they said, and wrote in anger to Ananus,
and threatened that he would bring him to punishment for what he had done;
on which king Agrippa took the high priesthood from him, when he had ruled
but three months, and made Jesus, the son of Damneus, high priest.
[
204]
Now as soon as Albinus was come to the city of Jerusalem, he used
all his endeavors and care that the country might be kept in peace, and
this by destroying many of the
Sicarii. But as for the high priest,
Ananias
4
he increased in glory every day, and this to a great degree, and had obtained
the favor and esteem of the citizens in a signal manner; for he was a great
hoarder up of money: he therefore cultivated the friendship of Albinus,
and of the high priest [Jesus], by making them presents; he also had servants
who were very wicked, who joined themselves to the boldest sort of the
people, and went to the thrashing-floors, and took away the tithes that
belonged to the priests by violence, and did not refrain from beating such
as would not give these tithes to them. So the other high priests acted
in the like manner, as did those his servants, without any one being able
to prohibit them; so that [some of the] priests, that of old were wont
to be supported with those tithes, died for want of food.
[
208]
But now the
Sicarii went into the city by night, just before
the festival, which was now at hand, and took the scribe belonging to the
governor of the temple, whose name was Eleazar, who was the son of Ananus
[Ananias] the high priest, and bound him, and carried him away with them;
after which they sent to Ananias, and said that they would send the scribe
to him, if he would persuade Albinus to release ten of those prisoners
which he had caught of their party; so Ananias was plainly forced to persuade
Albinus, and gained his request of him. This was the beginning of greater
calamities; for the robbers perpetually contrived to catch some of Ananias's
servants; and when they had taken them alive, they would not let them go,
till they thereby recovered some of their own
Sicarii. And as they
were again become no small number, they grew bold, and were a great affliction
to the whole country.
[
211]
About this time it was that king Agrippa built Cesarea Philippi larger
than it was before, and, in honor of Nero, named it Neronlas. And when
he had built a theater at Berytus, with vast expenses, he bestowed on them
shows, to be exhibited every year, and spent therein many ten thousand
[drachmae]; he also gave the people a largess of corn, and distributed
oil among them, and adorned the entire city with statues of his own donation,
and with original images made by ancient hands; nay, he almost transferred
all that was most ornamental in his own kingdom thither. This made him
more than ordinarily hated by his subjects, because he took those things
away that belonged to them to adorn a foreign city. And now Jesus, the
son of Gamaliel, became the successor of Jesus, the son of Damneus, in
the high priesthood, which the king had taken from the other; on which
account a sedition arose between the high priests, with regard to one another;
for they got together bodies of the boldest sort of the people, and frequently
came, from reproaches, to throwing of stones at each other. But Ananias
was too hard for the rest, by his riches, which enabled him to gain those
that were most ready to receive. Costobarus also, and Saulus, did themselves
get together a multitude of wicked wretches, and this because they were
of the royal family; and so they obtained favor among them, because of
their kindred to Agrippa; but still they used violence with the people,
and were very ready to plunder those that were weaker than themselves.
And from that time it principally came to pass that our city was greatly
disordered, and that all things grew worse and worse among us.
[
215]
But when Albinus heard that Gessius Florus was coming to succeed
him, he was desirous to appear to do somewhat that might be grateful to
the people of Jerusalem; so he brought out all those prisoners who seemed
to him to be most plainly worthy of death, and ordered them to be put to
death accordingly. But as to those who had been put into prison on some
trifling occasions, he took money of them, and dismissed them; by which
means the prisons were indeed emptied, but the country was filled with
robbers.
[
216]
Now as many of the Levites,
5
which is a tribe of ours, as were singers of hymns, persuaded the king
to assemble a sanhedrim, and to give them leave to wear linen garments,
as well as the priests for they said that this would be a work worthy the
times of his government, that he might have a memorial of such a novelty,
as being his doing. Nor did they fail of obtaining their desire; for the
king, with the suffrages of those that came into the sanhedrim, granted
the singers of hymns this privilege, that they might lay aside their former
garments, and wear such a linen one as they desired; and as a part of this
tribe ministered in the temple, he also permitted them to learn those hymns
as they had besought him for. Now all this was contrary to the laws of
our country, which, whenever they have been transgressed, we have never
been able to avoid the punishment of such transgressions.
[
219]
And now it was that the temple was finished. So when the people saw
that the workmen were unemployed, who were above eighteen thousand and
that they, receiving no wages, were in want because they had earned their
bread by their labors about the temple; and while they were unwilling to
keep by them the treasures that were there deposited, out of fear of [their
being carried away by] the Romans; and while they had a regard to the making
provision for the workmen; they had a mind to expend these treasures upon
them; for if any one of them did but labor for a single hour, he received
his pay immediately; so they persuaded him to rebuild the eastern cloisters.
These cloisters belonged to the outer court, and were situated in a deep
valley, and had walls that reached four hundred cubits [in length], and
were built of square and very white stones, the length of each of which
stones was twenty cubits, and their height six cubits. This was the work
of king Solomon,
6
who first of all built the entire temple. But king Agrippa, who had the
care of the temple committed to him by Claudius Caesar, considering that
it is easy to demolish any building, but hard to build it up again, and
that it was particularly hard to do it to these cloisters, which would
require a considerable time, and great sums of money, he denied the petitioners
their request about that matter; but he did not obstruct them when they
desired the city might be paved with white stone. He also deprived Jesus,
the son of Gamaliel, of the high priesthood, and gave it to Matthias, the
son of Theophilus, under whom the Jews' war with the Romans took its beginning.