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[336]
And here it was that the high priests, and men of power among the
Jews, as well as the sanhedrim, came to congratulate the king [upon his
safe return]; and after they had paid him their respects, they lamented
their own calamities, and related to him what barbarous treatment they
had met with from Florus. At which barbarity Agrippa had great indignation,
but transferred, after a subtle manner, his anger towards those Jews whom
he really pitied, that he might beat down their high thoughts of themselves,
and would have them believe that they had not been so unjustly treated,
in order to dissuade them from avenging themselves. So these great men,
as of better understanding than the rest, and desirous of peace, because
of the possessions they had, understood that this rebuke which the king
gave them was intended for their good; but as to the people, they came
sixty furlongs out of Jerusalem, and congratulated both Agrippa and Neopolitanus;
but the wives of those that had been slain came running first of all and
lamenting. The people also, when they heard their mourning, fell into lamentations
also, and besought Agrippa to assist them: they also cried out to Neopolitanus,
and complained of the many miseries they had endured under Florus; and
they showed them, when they were come into the city, how the market-place
was made desolate, and the houses plundered. They then persuaded Neopolitanus,
by the means of Agrippa, that he would walk round the city, with one only
servant, as far as Siloam, that he might inform himself that the Jews submitted
to all the rest of the Romans, and were only displeased at Florus, by reason
of his exceeding barbarity to them. So he walked round, and had sufficient
experience of the good temper the people were in, and then went up to the
temple, where he called the multitude together, and highly commended them
for their fidelity to the Romans, and earnestly exhorted them to keep the
peace; and having performed such parts of Divine worship at the temple
as he was allowed to do, he returned to Cestius.
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