PHILONIS ALEXANDRINI LEGATIO AD GAIUM
PHILONIS ALEXANDRINI LEGATIO AD GAIUM EDITED WITH A N
INTRODUCTION
TRANSLATION A N D COMMENTARY
BY
E. MARY SMALLWOOD Reader in Classics in the Queen's University of Belfast
SECOND EDITION
LEIDEN E. J. BRILL 1970
F I R S T E D I T I O N 1961
Copyright 1970 by E. J. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche or any other means without written permission from the publisher PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
PRAECEPTORIBVS ET
AD1VTORIBVS
CONTENTS Preface
ix
Abbreviations
xi
INTRODUCTION
A. B. C. D. E. F. G.
The situation in Alexandria The prelude to the The riots The embassies to Gaius The settlement Gaius' attack on the temple The treatise Legatio ad Gaium Additional Notes
i
riots
3 14 19 24 27 3 36 44 1
1
Synopsis of the Legatio ad Gaium
5
PHILO—THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
53
COMMENTARY
149
Addenda and corrigenda Index
326 33i
PREFACE TO T H E FIRST EDITION The text of Philo's Legatio ad Gaium used in this edition is that of S. Reiter, which appears in volume V I of the edition of the complete works of Philo edited b y L. Cohn, P. Wendland, and S. Reiter, and published b y the firm of Georg Reimer of Berlin between 1896 and 1915. I am indebted to Messrs. Walter de Gruyter and Co. of Berlin, who now incorporate the firm of Georg Reimer, for permission to reprint this text, with a few minor modifications which are noted in the commentary. This edition is designed as a companion volume to the edition of Philo's In Flaccum b y H. B o x (Oxford, 1939). Since the two books are likely to be used in conjunction with one another, full discussion of matters treated at length b y Box in his introduction or commentary is avoided when I am substantially in agreement with him. In my commentary, cross references within the Legatio are usually given simply b y the number of the section, and the abbre viation Leg. is prefixed only where there might otherwise be confusion. Philo's other works are cited b y title (abbreviated) and section, preceded b y Philo's name only where this is required for clarity. In consulting rabbinic sources I have used H. Danby's English translation of the Mishnah (1933), the English translation of the Babylonian Talmud edited by I. Epstein (1935-52), the English translation of the Midrash Rabbah edited b y H. Freedman and M. Simon (1939; second edition, 1951), and M. Schwab's French translation of the Jerusalem Talmud (1871-90). My thanks are due to a number of scholars for help in the prepa ration of this edition: to Professor J. M. C. Toynbee of Cambridge University, who guided the first steps of my researches into the history of the Jews in the Roman empire, and who read and criticized the introduction; to Professor T. A. Sinclair and Mrs. K. M. T. Atkinson of the Queen's University of Belfast, who gave me much valuable advice and help with the translation and with many historical matters respectively; and to my other colleagues in Belfast, to Dr. A. Carlebach, Rabbi of the Hebrew Congregation
X
PREFACE
in Belfast, and to Professor A. H. M. Jones and Professor W . K. C. Guthrie of Cambridge University, whom I consulted on various points. Other debts are acknowledged at the appropriate places in the commentary. For the main lines of the interpretation here put forward, however, as well as for any mistakes and errors of judgement, I take all responsibility. I am very grateful to the firm of W . Heinemann for their kindness in allowing me to see the proofs of the forthcoming volume X of the Loeb edition of Philo, which contains F. H. Colson's trans lation of the Legatio together with his introduction and some footnotes, and extensive indices compiled b y J. Earp, and in granting me permission to include in my introduction and commen tary references to this book before its publication. I am also very grateful to the Queen's University of Belfast for a generous grant which has made the publication of this book possible. Finally I wish to record my appreciation of the patience and vigilance both of the compositors and proof-readers of the firm of E. J. Brill, and of the long-suffering friends who shared the labour of proof-reading with me.
PREFACE TO T H E SECOND EDITION This edition is substantially identical with the first, but it in cludes a number of small corrections and additions, many of them made in the light of the detailed and helpful criticisms and sug gestions offered by the following reviewers, to whom my grateful thanks are due: F. W . Kohnke in Gnomon xxxvi (1964), 354-6; V. Nikiprowetzki in Rev. de Philol. deLitUr. et d*Hist. Anc. xxxvii (1963). 308-14; J.-G. Pr6aux in UAntiquiU Classique xxxiii (1964), 180-1; C. Pr6aux in Chronique d'Egypte xxxviii (1963), 185-6; W . H. C. Frend in Class. Rev. n.s. xiii (1963), 60-2; J. H. Thiel in Mnemosyne 4th series xvi (1963), 75-6. Changes which it has been possible to incorporate in the text are indicated b y daggers (f f ) round the revised wording. Changes and additions which it has not been possible to incorporate will be found in the pages of Addenda and Corrigenda printed at the end of the book (pp. 326-9), and are indicated b y asterisks (*) against the original text. A few misprints have been rectified. The Index has been re-written and expanded to about double its previous length.
ABBREVIATIONS AFA: Acta Fratrum Arvalium, ed. A . Pasoli (1950). AJ: Josephus, Antiquitates Judaicae. B a l s d o n : J. P. V . D . Balsdon, The Emperor Gaius (1934). Balsdon, JRS: J. P. V . D . Balsdon, " N o t e s concerning the principate o f G a i u s " in JRS x x i v (1934). 3-*4Bell, J. and C : H . I. Bell, Jews and Christians in Egypt (1924). Bell, J. und Gr.: H . I. Bell, Juden und Griechen in rdmischen Alexandria (Beiheft z u m alten Orient I X , 1926). BG U: A egyptische Urkunden aus den kdniglichen Museen zu Berlin. Griechische Urkunden (1895-1934). BJ: Josephus, Bellum Judaicum. BMCCRE: A Catalogue of the Roman Coins in the British Museum. H . Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire (1923-50). BMCGC, Palestine (or other place n a m e ) : A Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum. G . F. Hill, The Greek Coins of Palestine ( 1 9 1 4 ) . Other countries b y various editors. B o x : Philonis Alexandrini In Flaccum, ed. H . B o x (1939). B . T . : The Babylonian Talmud. CAH: The Cambridge Ancient History. Charlesworth, Trade-routes: M . P. Charlesworth, Trade-routes and Commerce of the Roman Empire (1924). CIG: Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum. CI J: J.-B. Frey, Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum (1936-52). CIL: Corpus Inscriptionum Latinurum. Claudius, Letter: Claudius' Letter to Alexandria (P. Land. 1 9 1 2 ) , published b y Bell, / . and C. C o l s o n : F. H . Colson's forthcoming e d i t i o n o f the Legatio, Xx>eb P h i l o X . C . - W . - R . : Philonis Alexandrini Opera Quae Super sunt, v o l s . I - V e d . L . Conn a n d P . W e n d l a n d , v o l . V I ed. C o h n a n d S. Reiter ( 1 8 9 6 - 1 9 1 5 ) . D a h l : J. C. D a h l , Chrestomathiae Philonianae pars altera site libelli illustres adversus Flaccum et de legations ad Gaium (1802). D e l a u n a y : F. Delaunay, Philon d Alexandria licrits Historiques (1867). E a r p , Index . ..: Indices t o the L o e b Philo, in the f o r t h c o m i n g v o l . X , c o m p i l e d b y J. E a r p . E u s . HE; Praep. Ev.\ Dem. Ev.\ Chron.: Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica; Praeparatio Evangelica; Demonstratio Evangelica; Chronici Canones (Jerome's Latin version). Fl.: Philo, In Flaccum. Gelzer: Gelzer's article o n G a i u s in P . - W . s.v. Iulius (Caligula) n o . 3 3 , coll. l
1
381-423. G o o d e n o u g h , Light; Politics; Introduction: E . R . G o o d e n o u g h , By Light, Light, The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism ( 1 9 3 5 ) ; The Politics of Philo Judaeus (1938); An Introduction to Philo Judaeus (1940). HThR: Harvard Theological Review. In A p.: Josephus, In Apionem. IGr: Inscriptiones Graecae. IGRR: R . Cagnat, Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes ( 1 9 1 1 - 2 7 ) .
ABBREVIATIONS
XIV
ILS: H . Dessau. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae (1892 - 1 9 1 6 ) . JBL: Journal of Biblical Literature. JE: The Jewish Encyclopedia. Jones, Herods: A . H . M . Jones, The Herods of Judaea (1938). JQR: Jewish Quarterly Review. JRS: Journal of Roman Studies. J.T.: T h e Jerusalem T a l m u d . JThS: Journal of Theological Studies. Leisegang, Indices: I n d e x v o l u m e ( V I I ) of C . - W . - R . , c o m p i l e d b y H . Leisegang (193°)L . and S . : Liddell a n d Scott's Greek L e x i c o n , 9 t h edition, b y H . S. Jones and R . M c K e n z i e . Mace: T h e b o o k s o f Maccabees. Magie, De Vocabulis: D . Magie, De Romanorum Iuris Publici Sacrique Vocabulis Sollemnibus in Graecum Sermonem Conversis (1905). M a n g e y : Philonis Judaei Opera Quae Reperiri Potuerunt Omnia, ed. T . Mangey (1742). Musurillo, A A: H . A . Musurillo, S. J., The Acts of the Pagan Martyrs. Acta Alexandrinorum (1954). OGIS: W . Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (1903-5). P. followed b y a place n a m e : Papyri. P.Oxy.: The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, ed. B . P. Grenfell, A . S. H u n t , and others (1898). PG: Migne's Patrologia Graeca. PIR : H . Dessau, E . Klebs, a n d P. v o n R o h d e n , Prosopographia Imperii Romani, 1 s t edition (1897-8). PIR : E . Groag a n d A . Stein, Prosopographia Imperii Romani, 2 n d edition 9
1
1
(1933)• PL: Migne's Patrologia Latina. P . - W . : Pauly-Wissowa, Realencychpddie. RB: Revue Biblique. Reiter: Reiter's t e x t o f the Legatio in C . - W . - R . V I . RE J: Revue des Iitudes Juives. Roscher, Lexikon: Ausfiihrliches Lexikon der Griechischen und Rdmischen Mythologie, ed. W . H . R o s c h e r (1884-1937). S. Aug.; Tib.; G.: Suetonius, Divus Augustus; Tiberius; Gaius. Schurer: E . Schurer, Geschichte des Jiidischen Volkes im Zeitalter JesuChristi I, y d a n d 4 t h edition (1901), I I , 4 t h edition (1907), I I I , 4 t h edition (1909). Schwafe: M . S c h w a b , Le Talmud de Jerusalem. Traduit. . . . en Francais (1871-90). SEG: Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum. Sen. De Benef.; Dial.; Ep.: Seneca, De Beneficiis; Dialogi; Epistulae. SIG : W . Dittenberger, Sylloge InscriptionumGraecarum, 3rd edition ( 1 9 1 5 - 2 4 ) . T. A.; H.: Tacitus, Annates; Historiae. T u r n e b u s : Philonis Iudaei in Libros Mosis . . . . Eiusdem Libri Singulares, ed. A . Turnebus (1552). W i l l r i c h : H . Willrich, " C a l i g u l a " in Klio iii (1903), 8 5 - 1 1 8 , 288-317, 387-470. W o l f s o n : H . A . W o l f son, Philo. Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Juda ism, Christianity, and Islam (1948). S
| a n d * : see t h e preface t o the s e c o n d edition.
ABBREVIATIONS
XV
PHILO'S PHILOSOPHICAL TREATISES E . R . G o o d e n o u g h ' s abbrevations are used in this edition. T h e in brackets g i v e the v o l u m e s in the L o e b edition o f Philo. Abr. Aet. Agr. Cher. Conf. Cong. Cont. Decal. Det. Ebr. Fug. Gig. Heres Immut. Jos. LA Mig. Mos. Mut. Opif. Plant. Post. Proem. Prob. Provid. QE QG Sac. Sob. Som. Spec. Virt. 1
1
1
De Abrahamo ( V I ) . De Aeternitate Mundi ( I X ) . De Agriculture* ( I I I ) . De Cherubim ( I I ) . De Confusione Linguarum (IV). De Congressu Eruditionis Gratia ( I V ) . De Vita Contemplativa (IX). De Decalogo ( V I I ) . Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat ( I I ) . De Ebrietate ( I I I ) . De Fuga et Inventione (V). De Gigantibus (II). Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres ( I V ) . Quod Deus Sit Immutabilis (III). De Josepho ( V I ) . Legum Allegoria ( I ) . De Migratione Abrahami (IV). De Vita Mosis ( V I ) . De Mutatione Nominum ( V ) . De Opificio Mundi ( I ) . De Plantatione (III). De Posteritate Caini ( I I ) . De Praemiis et Poenis ( V I I I ) . Quod Omnis Probus Liber Sit ( I X ) . De Providentia (IX). Quaestiones et Solutiones in Exodum (Supplement I I ) . Quaestiones et Solutiones in Genesin (Supplement I ) . De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini ( I I ) . De Sobrietate ( I I I ) . De Somniis ( V ) . De Specialibus Legibus ( V I I a n d V I I I ) . De Virtutibus ( V I I I ) .
E x t a n t o n l y in
Armenian.
numbers
INTRODUCTION
A — T H E SITUATION IN A L E X A N D R I A The Legatio is an invective against Gaius, illustrated by various examples of that Emperor's outrageous behaviour and by episodes in which Philo maintains that he showed hostility towards the Jews. The author relates, among other things, the attacks made on the Jews in two places during Gaius' principate—the anti-Jewish riots in Alexandria during the summer of 38 and Gaius' attempt to dedicate the Temple in Jerusalem to the imperial cult—and the fortunes of the embassies to Gaius which the former event occasioned and which gave the treatise its popular title. Save for a chronological link between the movements of the embassies and events in Pales tine, the episodes in the two countries were unconnected with each other. In the Legatio Philo attributes the disturbances in Alexandria in 38 to Gaius' self-deification. He says that the Jews alone refused to recognize Gaius as a god and thereby incurred his anger and hostility, and that the Alexandrian Greeks, realizing this, used it as a pretext for giving expression to their own long-standing hatred for the Jews . Philo arrives at this explanation of the trouble by manipulating the chronology and ante-dating Gaius' demand for divine honours and his consequent hostility towards the Jews . He completely ignores the events in Alexandria (related in the In Flaccum) which led up to the outbreak, and gives no account of the social and political conditions in the city which were the basic cause of the severe friction between the races. The ferocity of the Greek attack on the Jews in 38 is indeed comprehensible only on the assumption that behind it lay a deepseated resentment which had long been smouldering and was ready to burst into flame on the first provocation. It seems clear from Philo's various references to 7roXiTeta that at least one cause of the quarrel was some question concerning the Jews' civic status in l
2
1
8
Leg. 1 1 5 - 2 0 . See the n o t e o n 1 1 5 jx6vou? y*P 'IouSatou? u7repx£Tcero.
INTRODUCTION
4
Alexandria. At one point in the riots the prefect Flaccus is said to have taken steps to destroy the Jews' nokizelcn and so to deprive them of their political rights ; the purpose of the Jews' embassy to Gaius is described as a campaign about the 7roXiTeia ; and the envoys are made to speak of the fear that their own 7roXiTeia will be destroyed and of a threat to the whole -roXiTeioc of the Jews in general . What, then, was the Jews' civic status in Alexandria, and what is the meaning of the term 7roXiTe£oc in these contexts ? Scholars are agreed on two points. First, Alexandria was a Greek city, in which the main citizen-body was naturally composed of Greeks, although some individual Jews resident in the city obtained its citizenship. For example, Philo's brother Alexander, who held the Greek municipal office of alabarch or arabarch (customs official) under Tiberius and Gaius , and one Demetrius who held it under Claudius , must have had Greek citizenship . In a passage which Box maintains refers to the Alexandrian Jews, Philo speaks of them as occasionally holding the positions of clerk of the market (ayopavofzos) and gymnasiarch- both Greek municipal offices which were obviously confined to possessors of Greek citizenship . 1
2
3
4
6
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Fl. 5 3 TTJV rife i][icr£poLQ no\mlv Sta^povre^. H . A . W o l f s o n , " P h i l o o n Jewish citizenship in A l e x a n d r i a " in JBL lxiii (1944), 165-8. Strabo xvii, 1, 1 2 , 798; BJ ii, 487. • See below, p p . 2 0 - 1 . 1
8
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6 1
6
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INTRODUCTION
it he called the Jews ££voi when they were in fact XOCTOIXOI. The term X<XTOIXO(jL<x by issuing a proclamation in which he declared that the Jews were "aliens and foreigners" in Alexandria . By this measure he apparent ly degraded them from their legal position of xaxoixoi (resident aliens) to that of £6voi. Presumably this constituted an attack on the Jews' 7roXtTeu[ia in that its development had depended on the Jews' status as XCCTOIXOI and that its existence was consequently jeopardized when that status was lost. As 56voi the Jews were now to have the right of domicile in one section only of the five into which Alexandria was divided—the section assigned to the original Jewish settlers early in the city's history and designated "Jewish". B y the first century A . D . the Jewish community had expanded so 2
3
4
6
1
See b e l o w . Cf. the note o n 1 3 4 etx6va$ yap £v arraaais [ikv ISpuovro Tatou. Fl. 4 1 - 5 3 ; Leg. 1 3 2 - 7 and see the notes ad loc. F o r arguments t o support the interpretation here g i v e n of the a t t a c k o n the synagogues see Additional Note II, pp. 45-7. Fl. 5 3 - 4 ££voo$ xal £703X080$. See a b o v e , p p . 9 - 1 0 . 8
8
4
5
THE RIOTS
21
much that a second section of the city also was largely, although probably not exclusively, populated by Jews and known as "Jew ish", while smaller numbers of Jews lived scattered throughout the other three sections as well. The Jews were now to lose the privi lege acquired in the course of time, but never legally granted to them, of residing in all parts of the city, and were to be restricted to the one original Jewish section, which thus became the first ghetto in the Roman world It was left to the Greeks, or they took it upon themselves, to put this ruling into effect. The more prudent Jews living outside the new ghetto probably withdrew to it at once, but an anti-Jewish riot was nevertheless soon in full swing. For the Greeks proceeded to drive into the ghetto many of the Jews whom they found else where, and tortured and massacred others. Obviously the ghetto was too small to accommodate the whole Jewish community, and many Jews were forced to "overflow" outside the city on to the beaches in the neighbourhood of the municipal rubbish-heaps and of the cemeteries. The Greeks meanwhile looted the Jewish shops which were still closed in mourning for Gaius* sister, Drusilla, and plundered over four hundred abandoned Jewish homes outside the ghetto . The Jews in the ghetto were reduced to poverty, because they were unable to carry on their ordinary trades and professions, and food supplies soon ran short there. This shortage, combined with severe overcrowding and the exposure from which those on the beaches suffered, led to the outbreak of an epidemic. When the threat of starvation forced some Jews to venture out of the ghetto to the city markets in search of provisions, they were lynched b y the Greeks in numerous ingeniously disgusting ways. Even Jewish traders arriving at the port were robbed of their merchandise and murdered . 2
3
The narrative in the Legatio goes no further than this, and for the end, as for the beginning, of the story of the disturbances in the summer of 38 we depend on the In Flaccum. At some point during the riots Flaccus held a conference with the Jewish leaders, apparent 1
Fl- 5 5 ; Leg. 1 2 4 . It is w r o n g t o speak, as d o , e.g., Willrich (406), W i l c k e n (in W i l c k e n u n d Mitteis, op. cit. I, i, 24), a n d B a l s d o n (132-3) o f the P t o l e m a i c Jewish district as a " g h e t t o " . A special residence had been granted t o the early Jewish settlers as a privilege. Their descendants h a d n o t hitherto been confined t o it as a disability. Cf. B o x , x l i v , n. 5. 9
•
Fl. 94. Fl. 5 5 - 7 2 ; Leg.
121-31.
22
INTRODUCTION
ly in the hope of finding a way out of the prevailing anarchy—but without success . The final outburst of fanatical hatred occurred on Gaius* birthday, 31st August, with a demonstration which Flaccus himself was at least partly responsible for organizing. Some time before that date he had arrested thirty-eight members of the Jewish yepoixjta. Philo implies that this was a gratuitous assault on innocent people, but the fact that it was Flaccus and not the Greeks who made the arrest suggests that there were some grounds for it. The offence of the Jewish elders is a matter of conjecture. It is conceivable that they had instigated some sort of return-attack upon the Greeks; for other Jews also were in Flaccus* custody and were punished with them. Their punishment was made a public spectacle for the amusement of the Greeks on Gaius* birth day. The thirty-eight elders were marched through the streets to the theatre and there scourged, so severely that some died as a result. Other Jews were also tortured and hanged in the same place, and the entertainment was then continued with music, mimes, and dancing . To judge from the order of Philo's narrative, it was after this that Flaccus had the Jews' homes searched for weapons, but found none . In the course of the search a number of women were arrested, including some gentiles (Box suggests gentile wives of Jewish husbands), who were immediately released. Pork was offered to the Jewesses to eat, and some ate it in order to avoid the tortures in flicted on those who refused . After this the persecution seems to have died down, although the elders who survived the scourging were kept in prison and although b y a month or more later, in mid-October, the Jews had not yet sufficiently recovered in spirits l
2
3
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1
FL 7 6 ; n o details are given. Fl. 7 3 - 8 5 . Philo explains that scourging w a s a punishment t o w h i c h the unenfranchised E g y p t i a n s were liable, while the Jews had hitherto shared w i t h the Greeks the privilege o f being beaten with the flat o f the s w o r d instead. B o x interprets this incident t o mean that this, like the right t o reside in all parts of Alexandria, w a s a privilege w h i c h had long been allowed t o the Jews in practice, b u t had never been theirs b y legal right. A s the Jews were b y Flaccus' proclamation reduced t o the bare rights formally granted t o them, t h e y n o w lost that privilege (xliv, x l v i - x l v i i ) . Fl. 86-94. O n the unsuccessful search for w e a p o n s see B o x , lx-lxii. FL 9 5 - 6 and B o x ' s n o t e ad loc. H e includes "the forcible eating of p o r k b y Jewesses" a m o n g the entertainments o f 3 1 s t A u g u s t (xlvii). It is possible t h a t Philo's narrative is s o m e w h a t confused; the search for w e a p o n s m a y h a v e occurred before that date, and the thirty-eight elders a n d the other J e w s m a y h a v e been arrested in c o n n e c t i o n w i t h it. 8
8
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THE RIOTS
23
or in material circumstances to be able to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles . At that point a detachment of soldiers arrived from Rome with a warrant for Flaccus* arrest, and the Jews immediately broke into hymns of praise for their deliverance . W e are not told whether Flaccus was charged with maladministration and his failure to prevent the riots, or whether he had to face political accusations connected with his earlier relations with Gaius' enemies. Gaius must have decided on the arrest some time in September, probably after receiving Agrippa's letter from Alexandria explaining Flaccus' suppression of the resolution passed by the Jews in Gaius' honour eighteen months earlier, and the accompanying memorandum on Flaccus' treatment of the Jews during the weeks before the riots . Flaccus reached Rome to find Isidorus and Lampo among his accusers —an indication of the value of their promise of protection. He was found guilty of whatever charges were preferred against him and banished to Andros. The last quarter of the In Flaccum recounts his journey into exile, his misery and remorse, and his execution. l
2
3
4
Although Philo does not admit it, the Jews must have been allowed to return to their homes after Flaccus' arrest. Apart from the improbability that the whole community could have lived in the small ghetto and on the seashore for some two years and a half, until Claudius re-established their rights, the fact that a year after the riots the Jews were in a position to offer a hecatomb for sacrifice suggests a fairly speedy return to normal conditions . At the same time, as feelings cooled, they probably quietly resumed possession of the synagogues, repairing and reconsecrating them . 6
6
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Fl. 1 1 6 - 8 . Bell refers Philo's a c c o u n t of an a t t e m p t b y an unnamed prefect of E g y p t t o forbid Sabbath-observance (Som. ii, 123-9) t o Flaccus a n d the disturbances of 38 ( / . und Gr., 2 1 ) . B u t this interpretation is b y n o means c e r t a i n ; see Colson's note in the L o e b Philo V , 609. Fl. 104-24. See a b o v e , p p . 1 5 - 1 8 . G o o d e n o u g h , however, thinks that Flaccus was a t t a c k e d for h a v i n g belonged t o the faction supporting Gemellus (Intro duction, 7 4 ) . If Isidorus had assisted in M a c r o ' s o v e r t h r o w (above, p . 1 5 ) , his accusations against Flaccus m a y also h a v e been political, and u n c o n n e c t e d w i t h the Alexandrian situation. Fl. 1 2 5 - 7 . Leg. 356 and n o t e xara TTJV £X7r(8a T T J ; repjJLOvtxrj; vbaj;. Cf. G o o d e n o u g h , I.e. Cf. the n o t e o n 3 7 0 TZOTOLTZ^ y^votT* 5v $ xptaic. Schurer (I, 500) and BeU (/. und Gr. 2 2 - 3 ) , however, think t h a t the synagogues remained closed. 1
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t
24
INTRODUCTION
D - T H E EMBASSIES T O GAIUS Whether Gaius already knew about the riots or not when he had Flaccus arrested, it was obvious that information could not be long delayed in reaching him. The Jews and the Greeks, aware of this, took steps to send embassies to the Emperor, the latter to try to exculpate themselves for the recent upheavals and to secure a ruling which would keep the Jews in the inferior position to which they had been relegated, and the former to complain of, and seek redress for, the wrongs which the Greeks had inflicted on them. The embassies were apparently not able to sail until a year later, in the winter of 39-40, quite possibly because Flaccus' successor, Vitrasius Pollio, conducted a lengthy investigation into the quarrel before issuing the necessary exit-permits . l
Our knowledge of the embassies is derived almost entirely from the Legatio, since the meagre paragraph which Josephus devotes to them adds little. Philo himself led the Jewish delegation of five members, while the Greek delegation included the anti-Semitic writer Apion, Isidorus, and perhaps L a m p o . The two parties probably arrived in Italy in the early months of 40, while Gaius was still away on his northern campaign. While waiting for an audience they employed their time profitably in trying to secure powerful friends at court. The Greeks were the more successful in this. B y bribery and promises of favours they won the ear of the Egyptian (or more probably Alexandrian) freedman Helicon, Gaius' chamberlain, who had great influence over the Emperor and used the opportunities which his intimacy gave him to indulge in anti-Semitic propaganda. The Jews' counter-efforts to bring him over to their side failed completely . The Jews then decided to draw up a memorandum about "their sufferings and their claims", and this they submitted to Gaius either at or before their first hearing . It dealt, no doubt, principally with the two matters which it was the object of the embassy to lay before the Emperor—that of the 2
3
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See Additional N o t e I I I , p p . 4 7 - 5 0 , for discussion of the date of the embassies' v o y a g e s . * A J xviii, 257-60. AJ, I.e.; note o n Leg. 1 7 2 TCOV 'AXe£av8p£v.) It is therefore v e r y unlikely that the Jewish a t t a c k began before March, o r t h a t information a b o u t it reached R o m e before April o r M a y . In that case an e d i c t issued before March c a n n o t have been aimed, as Josephus implies that it was, at checking the recrudescence of violence in Alexandria, b u t w a s issued in ignorance of it. Cf. Balsdon, 144, n. 1. 2
3
3
Lines 87-8. H . S. Jones takes the discrepancy between this a n d Josephus' attribution of b o t h edicts t o the influence of the Jewish princes t o mean t h a t in his Letter Claudius is not referring t o the edict q u o t e d b y Josephus (JRS x v i , (1926), 25). B u t the corollary of this is the unlikely hypothesis t h a t Claudius sent t w o edicts, substantially similar in content, t o Alexandria within a few
THE SETTLEMENT
29
Greeks in Alexandria sent a second embassy, numbering eleven or twelve men , to Rome with the ostensible primary purpose of con gratulating Claudius on his accession, but with the important sub sidiary purposes of making various requests and of trying to get from the new Emperor the ruling on the Jewish question which the earlier embassy had failed to get from Gaius; the recent recurrence of violence in the city also needed explaining. The Jews, as was to be expected, sent a counter-embassy—or rather two embassies . These deputations can hardly have been the representatives of the two sides whose views Claudius heard before issuing his edict. For they can no more have reached Rome by March, 41, the ap parent terminus ante quern for the framing of that edict, than the l
2
months. It is m u c h more p r o b a b l e that the t w o statements are t o b e taken as complementary—that the Jewish princes urged Claudius t o h o l d an inquiry into t h e quarrel and t o a t t e m p t t o settle it, and that Claudius tactfully o m i t t e d t o mention this w h e n writing t o Alexandria, where A g r i p p a was n o t persona grata. Letter, 16-20. O n the number see Bell, / . and C , 30, note o n line 1 9 ; H . S. Jones in JRSxvi (1926), 18. I n / . und Gr., 25 Bell states without argument that there were p r o b a b l y twelve Greeks. Letter, 90-2. See H . Willrich, " Z u m Brief des Kaisers Claudius an die Alexandriner" in Hermes lx (1925), 482-9. In / . andGr., 26-7 Bell a c c e p t s this correction of / . and C , 18, where he postulates o n l y o n e Jewish embassy. W h a t cleavage within the Jewish c o m m u n i t y these t w o embassies represented is a matter of conjecture. T h e m o s t c o n v i n c i n g suggestion seems t o the present writer t o be that o f Willrich, n a m e l y that o n e e m b a s s y represented Jews w h o wanted admission t o Greek citizenship (i.e., Hellenized, " m o d e r n i s t " Jews), while the other represented those w h o repudiated a n y claim t o Greek citizenship as being incompatible with their religion (i.e., the o r t h o d o x ) and w h o were asking the E m p e r o r merely for the preservation of their former privileges ( " A u s d e m neugefundenen Brief des Kaisers Claudius" in Wiener Blatter fur die Freunde der Antike iv (1926), 3 1 - 5 ) . B o x , w h o holds that the J e w s as a c o m m u n i t y wanted Greek citizenship, interprets the less precise formulation of Willrich's t h e o r y in Hermes lx as meaning that " s o m e Jews of Alexandria, feeling a repugnance towards t h e e p h e b i c training, o w i n g t o t h e exhibition of the nude male form, m a y h a v e sent a separate e m b a s s y t o Claudius t o represent their views a n d presumably t o petition for s o m e special arrangement in their c a s e " ( x x i x ) . B u t it has already been argued ( p p . 13-4) that it is unlikely that the w h o l e Jewish c o m m u n i t y wanted Greek citizenship, and furthermore the lyrfiziat. was apparently n o t o p e n t o all Greek citizens b u t o n l y t o a certain section of t h e m (see a b o v e , p . 8, n. 6). Balsdon p u t s forward the alternative t h e o r y (144) that the t w o embassies were representatives respectively o f the minority of Alexandrian Jews w h o possessed Greek citizenship, and of the great mass of Jews w h o d i d not. B u t were the former numerous e n o u g h t o send a separate embassy, and would t h e y have wished t o advertise their nationality b y s o d o i n g ? H a v i n g obtained the c o v e t e d Greek citizenship, t h e y w o u l d surely h a v e felt themselves adequately represented b y the Greek dele gation. 1
8
INTRODUCTION
30
information about the recurrence of violence in Alexandria which greeted the news of Gaius* death can have done . Balsdon's sugges tion that the two parties heard were the embassies of Philo and Isidorus which were still waiting in Rome is entirely plausible. For the fact that neither Isidorus' nor Apion's name appears in the list of the members of the congratulatory delegation suggests that they had not yet returned to Alexandria when the latter delegation was chosen and set out . If b y January, 41, the delegations of Philo and Isidorus had obtained no answer from Gaius to the appeals which they had made to him some months earlier, it was only natural for them to ask the new Emperor for a hearing, in the hope of getting from him the decision which they had failed to get from his predecessor. l
2
3
Some time later Claudius gave a hearing to the Greek congratu latory delegation and its Jewish antagonists, and tried to discover from their presentations of their respective cases where lay the ultimate responsibility for the disturbances of recent years; but without success . When, therefore, in his Letter to Alexandria, which dealt with all the matters laid before him b y the Greeks, he came to the Jewish question, he had to content himself with a rebuke for the disturbances and a warning against any repetition of them, addressed to both sides impartially , before stating the conclusions which he had finally reached on that question. These were that the Jews were old-established residents in Alexandria, and as such were to be allowed to retain the religious liberty which Rome had guar anteed to them since the annexation of Egypt and which his recent 4
6
1
See a b o v e , p . 28, n. 2.
8
143.
8
Cf. the n o t e o n Leg. 1 7 2 T G > V 'AXe5av8p£tov ol Tzpiafeiq. T h e names of the m e m b e r s of the t w o Jewish delegations sent t o Claudius are n o t recorded. St. Jerome mentions P h i l o ' s membership of the e m b a s s y t o Gaius and then a second j o u r n e y of his t o R o m e t o visit Claudius, adding that in R o m e he m e t St. Peter (De Viris Illust. xi=PL. X X I I I , 658-9). Eusebius records a similar tradition and says that during his visit in Claudius' principate Philo read "his a c c o u n t of Gaius' i m p i e t y " t o the senate (HE ii, 1 7 , 1, and 1 8 , 8 ) . T h e meeting with St. Peter a n d the reading in the senate are certainly apocryphal, b u t there m a y be s o m e truth in the story of the visit t o Claudius. If so, it p r o b a b l y d o e s not mean, as G o o d e n o u g h thinks (Light, 79, n. 50), that Philo actually m a d e a second j o u r n e y t o R o m e ; it is rather a reference t o his continued presence t h e r e at the time of Claudius' accession. Letter, 7 3 - 7 . Letter, 7 7 - 8 2 . 4
6
THE SETTLEMENT
31
1
edict had restored , but that they were to remain content with their existing position and extensive advantages in a city to which they did not really belong, and were not to try either to get their rights extended or to usurp privileges which were not legally theirs . In other words, the Jews were to be content with the status and rights of their TroXiTeojxa, and were to cease irritating the Greeks either b y agitating for legal admission to Greek citizenship or by trying to acquire it by irregular means. Thus the restoration of the Jews' 7roXtTeu[jLa and of their religious liberty effected some months earlier by Claudius* edict was now confirmed, but the question of a possible improvement in their civic status, which the edict had not touched, was decided in favour of the Greeks by a definite rejection of the Jewish claim. It was a statesmanlike and impartial solution, aimed both at rectifying the harm done to the Jews during Gaius* principate and at pacifying the Greeks . 2
3
F - G A I U S * ATTACK ON T H E TEMPLE The troubles in Palestine during the last year of Gaius* life are recounted by Josephus in both his historical works as well as by Philo in the Legatio, and they receive a brief notice from Tacitus . The versions of the two Jewish writers differ considerably, both in the details of the incident and in the indications which they give of its chronology, and in some places they contradict rather than supplement each other. The discrepencies have been the subject of much discussion, and several attempts have been made to recon cile them or dovetail them into one another . On general grounds 4
5
1
Letter, 82-8. * Letter, 88-95. W h e t h e r the phrase £7ua7ra(peiv ( ? iTreiaTrafeiv) yuixvamapxtxotc xoa|jL7jTixot^ i y w a t means " t o force their w a y i n t o games run b y the g y m nasiarchs and c o s m e t a e " o r " t o force their w a y into the elections for the offices o f . . . . " (see Bell, / . and C , 3 7 ) , the general sense of the prohibition is the s a m e : the J e w s are n o t t o exercise privileges b e l o n g i n g o n l y t o Greek citizens. F o r fuller studies of Claudius' t r e a t m e n t of the Jewish p r o b l e m in A l e x a n dria see Bell, / . and C, 1 0 - 2 1 ; / . und Gr., 2 4 - 7 ; H . S. Jones, "Claudius a n d the Jewish question at A l e x a n d r i a " in JRS x v i (1926), 1 7 - 3 5 ; T . Reinach, " L ' e m pereur Claude et les Juifs d'apres un n o u v e a u d o c u m e n t " in RE J l x x i x (1924), 113-44. Leg. 1 8 4 - 3 4 8 ; AJ xviii, 2 6 1 - 3 1 0 ; BJ ii, 184-203; T . H. v , 9. F o r the b i b l i o g r a p h y a n d for a r g u m e n t s in favour of the chronological scheme a d o p t e d in this edition see t h e present writer, " T h e c h r o n o l o g y of Gaius* a t t e m p t t o desecrate the T e m p l e " in Latomus x v i ( 1 9 5 7 ) , 3 ' 7 ' » the notes o n Leg. 1 9 9 ff. 3
4
5
1
INTRODUCTION
32
Philo is, in the present writer's opinion, to be preferred to Josephus as an authority for the incident. First, although he was not a Pal estinian, he was a contemporary of the events which he is des cribing and to some extent a participant in them; for Gaius' attack on the Temple was linked in its chronology with the movements of Philo's embassy b y the fact that information about it reached that embassy in Italy, and Philo was almost certainly in touch with Agrippa I there at the time of the latter's successful intercession on behalf of the Temple . Therefore, although the Legatio does not comprise a straightforward history, the indications of chronology in it are likely to be more reliable than those of Josephus, who was writing some fifty years later. Secondly, Josephus' account includes "fairy-tale" elements, the presence of which tells against the credibility of the whole—rain from a cloudless sky , a sumptuous banquet followed b y the offer of a boon , and an order to commit suicide, delayed in transit until it was invalid . Thirdly, the fact that the chronological indications which Josephus gives for the opening of the episode are not acceptable throws doubt on the reliability of the rest of his narrative. For these reasons, in the account of the general course of events here given Philo's version is followed in preference to that of Josephus, where the two seem to be irreconcilable. l
2
3
4
5
During the winter of 39-40 the Jews in Jamnia destroyed an altar which had been built b y the Greek minority resident in the town for the express purpose, according to Philo, of annoying their fellow-townsmen. The Greeks reported the destruction to Herennius Capito, the procurator of the imperial estate in which Jamnia lay, who informed Gaius. During the spring Gaius, egged on by his anti-Semitic courtiers, Helicon and the Ascalonite actor Apelles, decided, that, as a punishment for the Jewish outrage, a colossal gilded statue of himself in the guise of Zeus should be made and erected in the Temple, thus converting it into a shrine of the imperial
1
See the note o n Leg. 276. A J xviii, 285. A J xviii, 289-300. A J x v i i i , 3 0 3 - 1 0 ; BJ ii, 2 0 3 ; discussed in the n o t e o n Leg. 2 5 9 l7ratvd>v aurfcv. A J x v i i i , 2 6 1 , discussed in the note o n Leg. 207 xeXeuei y«P IleTpwvtcp TG> T7fc Luptag aTrdtarj; uTtapxco. 1
8
4
6
GAIUS' ATTACK ON THE TEMPLE
33
l
c u l t . He instructed P. Petronius, the legate of Syria, to have a statue made and to take two of the four legions comprising the garrison of his province with him when he went to Jerusalem to set the statue in position, in order to crush any resistance which the Jews might offer . Petronius, realizing the folly of Gaius' decision and fearing that the Jews of the eastern Diaspora would join in the opposition which the Jews of Palestine would inevitably offer to the desecration of the Temple, began to carry out his orders without enthusiasm. The fact that the statue was not sent out from Rome ready-made but had to be constructed locally gave him time to consider how best to proceed. He wrote to Gaius, merely acknowledging his order formally and notifying him of his plan of action . After making arrangements for the construction of the statue in Sidon, at a safe distance from Palestine, he summoned the Jewish leaders, probably to his headquarters at Antioch, for the purpose of informing them of the Emperor's command and of urging them to try to persuade the rest of the population to submit to the desecration quietly. He can hardly have been surprised when his suggestion met with a flat refusal; the Jewish leaders said that they would rather die than witness such an outrage . Stiff opposition was clearly to be expected as soon as the Jews at large heard the news, and Petronius therefore immediately collected two legions and marched south to Ptolemais in Phoenicia, just north of the t Galilaean f frontier. It was by now about May, 40, and the grain harvest was at its height when at Ptolemais Petronius was confronted by a vast concourse of J e w s men, women, and children—who had streamed out from their province to stage mass demonstrations before him. Their repeated protestations that they would rather be killed or commit suicide than suffer the defilement of the Temple made Petronius realize that, if he insisted on carrying out Gaius* command, a Jewish revolt would result . He refused the permission for which the Jews asked 2
3
4
5
6
1
Leg. 199-206. Leg. 2 0 7 - 8 ; A J x v i i i , 2 6 1 ; BJ ii, 1 8 5 . A J xviii, 262. Leg. 209-24. O n t h e p l a c e o f Petronius* conference with the Jewish leaders see the n o t e o n 222 (xeTa7r£|i7reTai. Leg. 249. Leg. 2 2 5 - 4 4 ; A J x v i i i , 2 6 2 - 9 ; B J ii, 1 8 7 , 1 9 2 . Tacitus' statement t h a t the J e w s t o o k u p a r m s (H. v . 9) is discussed in the n o t e o n Leg. 226. 8
8
4
6
6
34
INTRODUCTION l
to send an embassy to plead their case before Gaius , and, leaving f his troops at Ptolemais, he hurried with his personal staff to Tiberias, the capital of Galilee which had just come under the rule of Agrippa I.f There further appeals were made and further mass demonstrations occurred, this time of considerable duration. During the course of them Petronius conferred with a number of the Jewish leaders, who begged him to write to Gaius on their behalf. Their pleas, together with the obvious earnestness of the common people, who reiterated the assurance given by the demonstrators at Ptolemais that they would willingly die in the defence of the sanctity of the Temple, confirmed Petronius' conviction that a revolt was imminent and decided him to write to Gaius, even at the risk of bringing the imperial wrath down on his own head . In his letter he apologized for the fact that the statue had not yet been set up in the Temple, and blamed the delay partly on the time taken over its construction and partly on Jewish opposition. The Jews, he explained, had conscientious objections to the scheme, so strong that they were neglecting the agricultural operations of the season, and he was afraid lest they might deliberately destroy the standing corn in the fields, and perhaps even sabotage the fruitcrop in the autumn; the famine which was likely to result would be inconvenient when Gaius travelled, as he intended to do in the near future, to Alexandria via the coasts of Syria and Palestine. He mentioned the impending danger of a Jewish revolt and the loss of revenue which this would entail, and finally openly suggested that the project should be dropped . At the same time he sought to gain further delay by instructing the craftsmen employed on the statue to work as slowly and carefully as possible . 1
3
4
5
Petronius' letter annoyed Gaius greatly, but in his reply he concealed the irritation which he felt at the legate's presumption in pleading the Jews' cause and in offering him advice—for he realiz ed that a provincial governor with an army behind him was a dangerous person to provoke—and he merely instructed him to proceed with the dedication of the statue as quickly as possible, since the harvest was bound to be in by the time his reply arrived . fl
1
• • 4
• •
Leg. 2 3 9 - 4 1 . 247. f BJ ii, 1 9 2 ; cf. 2 0 1 . t A J xviii, 269-83; BJ ii, 1 9 3 - 2 0 1 ; Leg. 248 a n d the n o t e Leg. 2 4 8 - 5 4 ; A J xviii, 287, 3 0 2 ; BJ ii, 202. Leg. 246 a n d note. Leg. 254-60.
ImaxlXkuv.
GAIUS' ATTACK ON THE TEMPLE
35
It was late August or early September b y the time this letter reached Petronius, who had remained at Ptolemais with his troops while awaiting it in order to keep an eye on the situation in Palestine . Even after its arrival he still managed to find some excuse, unknown to us, for continuing to postpone the execution of Gaius* instruc tions for a further month or more. Then unexpected news came. Shortly before Petronius had made Gaius* order known to the Jewish leaders, Agrippa I had left his kingdom for Italy, perhaps with the intention of being present at Gaius* ovation on 31st August. He arrived there in complete ignorance of the whole affair some time in August, soon after Gaius had dispatched his reply to Petronius* letter . Gaius was still fuming with rage at the con tents of Petronius* letter, and realized that Agrippa was noticing that there was something amiss. One day in September, when they were back in Rome after the ovation, he told Agrippa about his order for the desecration of the Temple and about the attitude which the Jews had taken up. The shock of this totally unexpected dis closure was so great that Agrippa was seized with a stroke and collapsed. When he had recovered sufficiently from the illness which followed, he wrote Gaius a lengthy, reasoned, and well-documented letter, begging him to follow the example of his imperial predeces sors and their subordinates, who had always shown toleration and even favour towards the Jews, and not to violate the sanctity of the Temple. This made more impression on Gaius than Petronius' letter had done, and out of consideration for his friendship with Agrippa he agreed to cancel his order . He accordingly wrote to Petronius, instructing him to abandon the whole project and dismiss his army. The Jews in their turn, he said, were to repay the consider ation which he thus showed for their feelings b y refraining from molesting any attempts made b y gentile residents to introduce the imperial cult outside Jerusalem . Petronius* relief must have been great when in October, 40, or later he received this letter and was able to set the Jews free from fear and to take his army back to Antioch. l
2
3
4
According to Philo, after rescinding his order at Agrippa's re1
See the n o t e o n Leg. 248 imoT&Xciv. Leg. 2 6 1 . Leg. 2 6 1 - 3 3 3 . Leg. 333-4. O n Josephus* version o f Gaius' letter t o P e t r o n i u s (AJ x v i i i , 300-1) see the n o t e o n Leg. 333 [Lrftzv lizl TCO fepa> T W V 'IouSalwv I T I vewxepov xiveiv. 1
8
4
36
INTRODUCTION
quest, Gaius later went back on his word and reissued it, but with the difference that he now proposed to have the statue made in Rome, to take it with him on his forthcoming eastern tour, and to have it erected in the Temple without warning the Jews in advance of his purpose. This change of mind, if it is historical, must belong to the last few months of Gaius' life . But no attempt was ever made to implement the decision, for on 24th January, 41, the Emperor was assassinated. Had such an attempt been made, a largescale Jewish revolt would undoubtedly have followed. The timely daggers of Cassius Chaerea and his associates thus prevented the disastrous events of 66-70 from being ante-dated b y twenty-five years. l
G - T H E T R E A T I S E LEGATIO AD GAIUM Seven codices were used by Reiter for his text of the Legatio, namely: Parisinus Graecus 435, eleventh century (C) Laurentianus X 20, early thirteenth century (M) Monacensis Graecus 459, thirteenth century (A) Venetus Graecus 40, fourteenth century (H) Vaticano-Palatinus Graecus 248, fourteenth century (G) Bononiensis Graecus 3568, fourteenth-fifteenth century ( 0 ) Parisinus Graecus 433, sixteenth century (L)
2
Of these L and C were used by Turnebus for the Legatio in his editio princeps (1552), and M and A in addition b y Mangey (1742). On A and H depend families of codices not used individually by Reiter. M, although not a member of the A family, is closely con nected with A in that both are derived, through different channels, from the same archetype. L is a member of the H family, but it holds a unique place therein, in that it has been corrected from the fourteenth century codex Vaticanus 379, and that two treatises, absent from the H family, have been added to it from the same codex. For the text of Philo no one MS is consistently superior. C, although the oldest, is not textually the best, since it contains many 1
Leg. 3 3 7 - 8 and notes. T h e greater p a r t o f this c o d e x is o c c u p i e d b y Josephus* BJ. treatise of Philo is included. a
N o other
THE
TREATISE LEGATIO AD GAIUM
37
mistakes in spelling, accentuation, and the division of words. The MSS of the Legatio clearly fall into two groups, one reading being frequently common to CGO, which derive from a common arche type, and a different one to MAH, as the apparatus criticus of any page of Reiter* s edition shows. The former group tends to be the more reliable, but many correct readings are preserved b y the latter. The codices of Philo are fully discussed b y Cohn in C.-W.-R. I and IV Prolegomena. For those used for the text of the Legatio see especially I, iv-xvii, xxxi-xxxv, IV, i-ii, and VI, xxxviii. These codices are discussed b y Reiter with reference to details of the text of the Legatio in VI, lviii-lxxii. On the editions of Turnebus, Mangey, and others see I, lxx-lxxxii, and V I , lxxii-lxxvi. Our knowledge of the title of the treatise now generally referred to as Legatio ad Gaium and of the structure of Philo's historical works in general depends on the evidence of the titles given in the codices and on allusions to the treatise in later writers, of which those of Eusebius are the most numerous and the most important. Philo makes no cross reference from the Legatio to the In Flaccum or vice versa. CGOM give as the title OtXcovo? dcpeT&v a (a omitted by M) 6 !<m TYJ; auTou izpeofizioLc; 7cpo Ypa^ev Ilepl 'Apcrcov, can only be translated "in the second treatise entitled On the Virtues". With this reading the words Seurepov ouYYpa{jLfi.a could not mean the second book of the treatise in five books, but must mean another, distinct work. Goodenough identifies this second treatise with the In Flaccum . This would harmonize with Eusebius* summary of the contents of the second treatise. The reading of two MSS, however, &v erceypa^ev, gives a meaning in accordance with Rufinus* rendering in secundo operis sui de virtutibus libro . As Ilepl 'Apertov clearly was an alternative title to H npea^eia, while there is no evidence that it was ever used as an alternative title for the In Flaccum, the adoption of the reading which makes HE ii, 6, 3 a reference to a part of the work in five books is attractive. JL JLaTt
x
2
C
Before considering the problem of the relation between the five books entitled Ilepl 'Apercov or H npea(3ei<x and the extant Legatio, a word must be said about these alternative titles. It seems likely that "The Embassy" was a subtitle, whether given by Philo or later, to a work principally entitled "On the Virtues", and that it tended to displace the original title, the meaning of which was not readily understood outside Jewish circles. Eusebius himself mis understood it when he wrote in HE ii, 18, 8 that Philo entitled his account of Gaius* impiety Ilepl 'Ape-roW "in mockery and irony". The majority of scholars now seem to be of the opinion that the phrase is not used ironically to mean "On Gaius' Vices" , but is f
3
1
Politics, 9 - 1 0 . See K i r s o p p Lake's edition ( L o e b ) , notes ad loc.\ Colson in his In troduction, xviii, n o t e c. Cf. Schurer, I I I , 6 8 1 - 2 , with L . Cohn's c o m m e n t in "Einleitung u n d Chronologie der Schriften P h i l o s " (in Philologus Suppl. V I I (1899). 389-436), 424Colson, h o w e v e r , thinks this interpretation n o t c o m p l e t e l y impossible (see his Introduction, x i v - x v ) . M. L . Massebieau regarded the title as an ironical reference t o the dcperafc (Leg. 8 1 , 9 1 , 98) o f the deities with w h o m Gaius 8
8
40
INTRODUCTION
used in the specifically Jewish sense of apeTY)=0eta Suvajxi;. This sense of the word is found in the Septuagint and in the New Testa ment. The title, perhaps originally made more precise in the form Ilepl 'Apertov 0eou, would mean "the manifestation of God's power in the defence of His chosen people" . The theme underlying this treatise and the In Flaccum is the belief that the vengeance of God is bound to descend on the persecutors of the Jews, whose rights are thereby vindicated . Schurer, like most students of the problem of Philo's work in five books, supposed that a good deal of his historical writings had been lost besides the section at the beginning of the In Flaccum on Sejanus' anti-Jewish policy, which is presupposed by the opening words of the treatise as extant , and the missing palinode promised at the end of the Legatio. He thought that the In Flaccum and the Legatio were both parts of the treatise Ilepl 'Ape-rcov in five books, since Eusebius' catalogue of Philo's works in HE ii, 18, otherwise fairly complete, mentions no other historical work. He suggested that the first of the five books was introductory, the second covered the attacks of Sejanus and Pilate, the third was our In Flaccum, the fourth our Legatio, which he regarded as complete in itself, and the last the palinode . This theory is now rejected b y many scholars . For it disregards both the clear distinction drawn by l
2
3
4
6
e q u a t e d himself; " L e classement des oeuvres d e P h i l o n " (in Bibliothhque de VEcole des Hautes Etudes\ Sciences Religieuses i (1899), 1 - 9 1 ) , 7 7 , n. 2. Isaiah xlii, 8 a n d 1 2 ; xliii, 2 1 ; lxiii, 7 ; I Peter ii, 9 ; II Peter i, 3. See further S. Reiter, "'Apery) und der Titel v o n Philos Legatio" in 'ETTITUJXJSIOV H. Swoboda dargebracht (1927), 2 2 8 - 3 7 ; B o x , x x x v i i i ; Colson in his Introduction, x v - x v i ; cf. W . W e b e r in Hermes 1 ( 1 9 1 5 ) , 7 2 - 5 . Other suggestions h a v e been m a d e : e.g., Delaunay t h o u g h t t h a t the reference was t o the Jews' courage in withstanding Gaius' a t t a c k on the T e m p l e (88); H . Leisegang d e v e l o p e d this thesis and suggested that the t h e m e o f the treatise was the " v i r t u e " w h i c h the Jews were" driven b y Gaius t o display in their opposition t o his claim t o d i v inity ("Philons Schrift iiber die Gesandtschaft der alexandrinischen Juden u n d den Kaiser Gaius Caligula" in JBL lvii (1938), 3 7 7 - 4 0 5 ) . * See the a c c o u n t of Flaccus* punishment with w h i c h the In Flaccum e n d s ; cf. the note o n Leg. 3 7 3 TYJV 7raXivco8iav. See B o x , xxxiii ff. I I I , 6 7 7 - 8 3 ; cf. I, 5 0 1 , n. 1 7 4 . T h e view expressed in the fourth edition is substantially the s a m e as that in the second (1886), 855-60, and is not greatly modified as a result of his acquaintance with the w o r k of Massebieau and Conn (see b e l o w ) . • It is, however, accepted b y Bell, / . and C, 1 6 ; H . S. Jones in JRS x v i (1926), 2 2 ; H . L e w y , Philon von Alexandrien "Von der Machterweisen Gottes" (1935). 7. 1
8
4
THE TREATISE LEGATIO AD GAIUM
41
Eusebius and others between Philo's work on Flaccus and his other work, and the fact that the MSS give the treatises separately and under distinct titles; and Schurer's attempt to reconcile Eusebius' statement that the Jewish troubles in Alexandria were described ev Seo-repco auYYP«fi.[iaTt with the position of third which he assigns to the In Flaccum where they are related most fully does not carry conviction. Massebieau , stressing the differences of emphasis and the lack of co-ordination between the In Flaccum and the Legatio, and C o h n , stressing the distinction drawn b y Eusebius and others between Philo's works on Flaccus and Gaius respectively, denied that the two treatises could have formed parts of the same work. They argued therefore that Philo wrote two historical works—the In Flaccum, originally beginning with the lost section on Sejanus, and the five books entitled Ilepl 'Apexcov or ' H npev xyj7to>v).
On the other hand, at or just before the first hearing the Jews gave Gaius a memorandum which was an epitome of the one sent via Agrippa I "a short time before" (7rp6 oXtyou, Leg. 179). The date of the earlier memorandum is fixed as August, 38, when Agrippa was in Alexandria. If the first hearing was held in May, 40, the earlier memorandum had been sent nearly two years previously, whereas if the hearing was held in the spring or summer of 39, it had been sent less than one year previously. The phrase 7rpo oXiyov could more easily cover the shorter period than the longer one, and thus is evidence for placing the first hearing in 39 and the voy age in the preceding winter. But it is not impossible that it could cover the longer period, and its use does not preclude the date May, 40, for the first hearing. Bell takes the fact that Isidorus (named as one of the Greek en voys) and Lampo appeared among Flaccus' accusers in Rome late in 38 as proof that the Greeks had by then already sent an embassy (/. und Gr. 22). But it is possible that Isidorus (and perhaps Lampo also) travelled to Rome in 38 and again in 39. There are difficulties involved in dating the voyage to the winter of 39-40, but they are not insuperable. First, that dating makes the rival parties in Alexandria wait for over a year after the riots before attempting to put their cases to Gaius. This delay can, however, be accounted for. The prefect's permission was needed for any delegation to go to Rome (above, p. 15, n. 5), and there may have been a hiatus between the arrest of Flaccus and the arrival of his successor, C. Vitrasius Pollio, during which there was no prefect to give this permission. The earliest Egyptian document mentioning Pollio by name as prefect is dated 28th April, 39 (ILS 8899). A document referring to an anonymous prefect is dated b y A. Stein to 20th October, 38, and taken as evidence that Pollio t
50
INTRODUCTION
took up residence very soon after Flaccus' arrest (Die Prdfekten von Aegypten in der rdmischen Kaiserzeit (1950), 26-7). But if this is correct, there is still no certainty that Pollio let the embassies sail at once. For it is probable that he held an investigation into the quarrel first, and that may have taken a considerable time. The second difficulty is perhaps more serious. Why should the envoys have risked the dangers and discomforts of a winter voyage in 39-40, when they knew that Gaius was out of reach at the time, instead of waiting until the spring ? (The Jews' sacrifice of a heca tomb "in anticipation of a victory over the Germans" (Leg. 356) shows that Gaius' campaign was well known in the East.) For the undertaking of a sea-journey in winter, when travelling was avoided as far as possible and essential travelling was done by preference along the slower but safer land-routes, presupposes urgency. But it is compatible with human nature to suppose that the delegations rushed off as soon as Pollio had finished his inquiries and given them their exit-permits, in order to be ready to meet Gaius imme diately he returned; and they could not be sure how soon that would be.
SYNOPSIS OF T H E LEGATIO i- 78- 13. 14- 21. 22- 73. 74-112. 114-119. 120-131. I32-I37138-140. 141-142. 143-153. 154-158. 159-161. 162-165. 166-171. 172-177. 178-179. 180-183. 184-196. 197-206. 207-224. 225-242. 243-253. 254-260. 261-275. 276-329.
AD
GAIUM
Introduction. Gaius' accession. Gaius' illness. The deaths of Gemellus, Macro, and Silanus. Gaius' self-deification. Gaius' attitude towards the Jews. The anti-Jewish riots in Alexandria; the ghetto. The Greek attack on the synagogues in Alexandria. The previous immunity of the synagogues from attack. Eulogy on Tiberius. Eulogy on Augustus. Augustus' treatment of the Jews. Tiberius' treatment of the Jews. The attitude of the Alexandrian Greeks to the deification of Gaius. The influence of Helicon on Gaius. The negotiations of the Greek and Jewish embassies with Helicon. The Jews' memorandum to Gaius. The first hearing of the Jewish embassy. Gaius' order for the desecration of the Temple. The incident at Jamnia. Petronius' receipt of Gaius' order and his preparations for carrying it out. The Jews' mass demonstrations of protest. Petronius' reaction and his letter to Gaius. Gaius' receipt of Petronius' letter, and his reply. Agrippa I's collapse on hearing of Gaius' order for the desecration of the Temple. Agrippa's memorandum to Gaius:—the position of Je rusalem and the attitude of the Jews towards the city (278-289); the respect shown b y M. Vipsanius Agrippa and others for the Temple (290-298); Tiberius' prohib ition of Pontius Pilate's introduction of votive shields into Jerusalem (299-305); the sanctity of the Holy of
52
SYNOPSIS OF THE LEGATIO AD GAIUM
Holies (306-308); Augustus* protection of Jewish religious liberty (309-318); Livia's gifts to the Temple (319-320); an appeal to precedent (321-322); Gaius' former kindness 330-338. 339-348. 349-367. 368-372. 373-
to Agrippa (323-329). The cancellation and subsequent re-issue of Gaius' order. Gaius' inconsistency. The second hearing of the Jewish and Greek embassies. The despair of the Jewish envoys. Conclusion.
<MAQNOS APETQN nPQTON O ESTI THE A Y T O Y IIPESBEIAS IIPOS TAION
PHILO T H E EMBASSY TO GAIUS
PHILO
T H E EMBASSY TO GAIUS 1
2
3
4
5
6
1 How long are we old men to go on being children ? Physically we are greybeards because of the lapse of time, but mentally we are mere babes in our stupidity, regarding Chance, which is the most unstable of things, as the most reliable, and Nature, which is the most steadfast, as the least secure. For we change and transpose our actions as in games of draughts, looking upon the things of Chance as more lasting than the things of Nature, and upon the order of Nature as less secure than the things of Chance. The reason is that we judge the present without any forethought for the future, using the erring senses in preference to the unerring intellect. For the eyes take in only the visible present, whereas the reason reaches right out to the invisible future. Yet we obscure the vision of our reason, which is sharper than the vision of our physical eyes, confusing it by drunkenness and gluttony in some cases and in others b y the greatest evil of all, ignorance. However, even though some people have become sceptical about God's providential care for all mankind, and especially for "the race of suppliants" which is the particular concern of the Father and King of the world, the Origin of all things, yet surely the present critical time and the many important questions now being settled should serve to convince them of it. This race is called Israel in the Chaldaean language, or, if the name is translated into Greek, "seeing God". In my opinion this faculty is the most valuable of all possessions, whether individual or communal. For if the sight of elders or teachers or rulers or parents rouses the beholders to respect, orderly behaviour, and a desire for a life of self-control, how strong a foundation for goodness and nobility may we expect to find in souls which have looked beyond all that is created and been trained to contemplate the uncreated and the divine, the prime Good and Beautiful and Happy and Blessed, or, if the truth must be told, that which is better than the Good, more beautiful than the Beauti ful, more blessed than Blessedness, happier than Happiness itself, and indeed, anything which is more perfect than the qualities just mentioned? For the reason does not manage to ascend to the entirely inaccessible and impalpable God, but it sinks and falls back through its inability to find the right words to use as steps to describe, I do not say Reality—for not even if the whole heaven became an articulate voice would it command words accurate and appropriate for that—but the Powers which are its body-guard. These are the Creative Power, the Ruling Power, the Foreseeing
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Legatio ad Gaium
6
76
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
89 j o y ? Are Europe and Asia too small to contain your gifts? You certainly invented new arts and sciences, but you did so as a univ ersal destroyer and murderer. With them you change pleasure and joy into pain and grief and a life which is no life for all men everywhere. Your insatiable and incessant greed appropriates all the valuables and treasures of other people, from East and West and other parts of the world, all that lies to the South and to the North. In return you give or send to them the products of your own bitterness, and all the harm and injury which are the usual offspring of ac cursed and poisonous souls. Has this made you appear to us as the 90 new Dionysus? Or did you emulate Heracles by your unwearied toil and unflagging courage? Did you fill continents and islands with order, justice, prosperity, plenty, and an abundance of the other blessings which profound peace creates?—you ignoble wretch, you utter coward, you who have emptied the cities of all that makes for stability and happiness, and filled them with all that 91 makes for riot and tumult and the deepest misery! Tell me, Gaius— Is it on these contributions which you have made to our destruction that you base your claim for a share of immortality, in order to render these miseries everlasting instead of short-lived and ephe meral ? No. I consider that even if you had seemed to have become a god, your wicked practices would have changed you back complete ly into a mortal. For if virtues make a man immortal, vices destroy 92 him completely. So do not enrol yourself among the Dioscuri, the most devoted pair of brothers, after murdering and ruining your own brother and sisters. And do not share the honour paid to He racles and Dionysus, the benefactors of human life, after ill-treating and destroying their work. 93 13 Gaius' madness, his wild and frenzied insanity, reached such a pitch that he went beyond the demi-gods and began to climb higher and to go in for the worship paid to the greater gods, Hermes, Apollo, and Ares, who are supposed to be of divine parentage on 94 both sides. It was the worship due to Hermes first. He dressed up with herald's staff, sandals, and cloak, displaying order amid dis order, consistency amid confusion, and reason amid mental de95 rangement. Then, when he saw fit, he discarded these attributes and changed his appearance and dress to those of Apollo. He wore a radiate crown, grasped a bow and arrows in his left hand, and held out the Graces in his right hand, as if it were correct to have good things re^dy at hand to proffer and to let them hold the superior position, on the right, while subordinating punishments and assign96 ing the inferior position, on the left, to them. Well-trained choirs at once took up their positions, singing paeans to him—choirs which had shortly before been calling him Bacchus, Evaeus, and Lyaeus, and chanting hymns in his honour, when he assumed the 97 costume of Dionysus. Often he would put on a breastplate and march forth sword in hand with helmet and shield, and be hailed as Ares. On either side of him marched the attendants of this new
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116
117
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119
120
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
the comrade of war, who transformed the settled order into uproar and faction. 1 6 Have we learnt, then, from this study so far that Gaius ought not to be compared to any of the gods or demi-gods, since he does not possess the same nature or substance or even purpose ? But lust is apparently a blind thing, especially when it is accom panied b y conceit and ambition coupled with the supreme power. This ruined us Jews, who had formerly enjoyed good fortune. It was only of the Jews that Gaius was suspicious, on the grounds that they were the only people who deliberately opposed him and had been taught from their very cradles, as it were, b y their parents, tutors, and teachers, and—more than that—by their holy Laws and even by their unwritten customs, to believe that the Father and Creator of the universe is one God. All other men, women, cities, nations, countries, and regions of the world—I can almost say the whole inhabited earth—although they deplored what was happening, flattered Gaius none the less, glorifying him more than was reason able, and so increasing his vanity. Some people even introduced into Italy the barbaric custom of proskynesis, and thus debased the nobility of Roman freedom. But one single race, f the Jews, stood apart and f was suspected of being likely to resist, since it was used to accepting death as willingly as if it were immortality in order not to allow any of their ancestral traditions, even the smallest, to be abrogated; for, as in the case of buildings, the removal of a single part causes even those parts which still seem to be standing firmly to crack and subside and crash down with it into the gap. But the change being effected was not a small one but an absolutely fundamental one, namely the apparent transformation of the created, destructible nature of man into the uncreated, indestructible nature of God, which the Jewish nation judged to be the most horrible of blasphemies; for God would change into man sooner than man into God. This was quite apart from the acceptance of the other supreme evils of unbelief in, and ingratitude towards, the Benefactor of the whole world, W h o b y His own might gives good things in lavish abundance to all parts of the universe. 1 7 Accordingly, total and truceless war was waged against the Jewish nation. What heavier burden could a slave have than a hostile owner? Subjects are the slaves of an Emperor, and even if this was not the case under any of Gaius' predecessors, because they ruled reasonably and legally, yet it was the case under Gaius, who had cut all humanity out of his heart and made a cult of illegality; for he regarded himself as the law, and broke the laws of the law givers of every country as if they were empty words. So we were enrolled not simply as slaves but as the lowest of slaves, when the Emperor turned into a tyrant. 1 8 When the promiscuous and unruly Alexandrian mob dis covered this, it supposed that a most opportune moment had come its way and attacked us. It unmasked the hatred which had long
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27
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THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
in secret, not merely with money but also with the prospect of honours which they hinted that they would bestow on him quite soon, when Gaius visited Alexandria. So Helicon dreamt of the time when he would be honoured by the greatest and most famous city of all in the presence of his master and of practically the whole world with him, and promised the Greeks everything. (It was quite obvious that the most distinguished people, the cream of other cities, would come from the ends of the earth and flock to pay homage to Gaius.) For a time, then, we did not know about the enemy lurking in our midst, and so were on our guard against outside enemies only. But when we became aware of him, we looked around and explored every possible avenue, to see if we could in any way soothe and mollify the man who was using every means and opportunity of shooting arrows and other weapons at us with accurate aim. For he played ball with Gaius, exercised with him, bathed with him, had meals with him, and was with him when he was going to bed, as he had been appointed to the position of cham berlain and captain of the body-guard in the palace (a higher p o sition than anyone else held), with the result that he alone had the Emperor's ear when he was at leisure or resting, released from ex ternal distractions and so able to listen to what he most wanted to hear. He mixed ridicule with his accusations, in order to amuse him with the former while doing us the greatest possible harm. For the ridicule, which appeared to be the principal matter, was subsidiary in his eyes, whereas the apparently subsidiary matter, the accusations, was the only matter of primary importance. So, like sailors with a favourable wind astern, he slackened every rope and was carried along with billowing sails -and a following breeze, devising and stringing together one charge after another. Gaius' mind was moulded more firmly, so that the accusations were indelibly fixed in his memory. 28 So we were in despair and at our wits' ends when, after leaving no stone unturned in our efforts to appease Helicon, we found no way of achieving our purpose. No-one dared to address or ap proach him, because of his arrogant and overbearing behaviour to everyone, and at the same time because we did not know whether it was b y reason of some personal antipathy for the Jewish people that he was continually inciting and egging his master on against our nation. So we gave up our efforts on these lines and concentrated on the more essential task, our decision to present Gaius with a me morandum containing a summary of our sufferings and of our claims. This was more or less an epitome of the longer petition which we had sent shortly before via king Agrippa, who had hap pened to be staying in Alexandria before sailing to Syria to take up the kingdom which had been granted to him. But we had, quite unconsciously, again been deceiving ourselves; indeed, we had done so before also, when we first set off on our voyage on the as sumption that we were going to appear before a judge in the hope
OIAQNOL A P E T O N
nPOTON
99
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28
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100
181
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189
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
of obtaining our rights. But Gaius was an irreconcilable enemy, who ensnared us, as far as appearances went, by his beaming glances and gracious words. For he greeted us first in the plain beside the Tiber—he happened to be coming out of his mother's gardens. He returned our salutation, waved his right hand as an indication of his favour, and then sent the official in charge of em bassies, one Homilus, to us with the remark, "I will listen to your case in person when I am free." At this the bystanders all congra tulated us as if we had already won our case, and so did those of our own number who were taken in by superficial appearances. I, how ever, was, it seems, more experienced by reason of my age and prev ious training, and so took up a more cautious attitude towards what had pleased the rest. Arousing my reasoning faculties I said, " N o w why, when there are so many embassies here from almost the whole world, did Gaius say just now that he would listen to us only? What was his idea ? He knew perfectly well that we were Jews, who would be content to be treated no worse than anyone else. Perhaps it would almost be madness to expect to receive preferential treat ment at the hands of a ruler who is at once a gentile, a young man, and the possessor of supreme power? No, he seems to be inclining to the party of the other Alexandrians, to whom he was granting preferential treatment when he promised a quick decision, unless indeed he is going to cease listening fairly and impartially and trans form himself from a judge into their advocate and our antagonist." 29 Reasoning thus with myself I was in an agony of mind and could not rest by day or night. While I was in despair and was hiding my anxiety—for it was not safe to mention it—another shattering and unexpected blow suddenly fell upon us, involving danger for the whole Jewish nation collectively and not just for one section of it. We had travelled from Rome to Dicaearchia in attendance on Gaius; he had gone down to the sea and was staying by the bay, going from one to another of his numerous luxuriously appointed country-houses. While we were considering our case, expecting at any moment to be summoned into his presence, a man came up to us completely out of breath, his eyes bloodshot and troubled. He drew us aside a little way from the others—there were a few people standing near—and said, "Have you heard the news?" Then before he could tell us he broke off in floods of tears. He began again, but broke off a second and a third time. When we saw this, we were alarmed and begged him to tell us the business on which he said he had come. "For", we said, " y o u surely have not come just to let us witness your weeping. If your news is worthy of tears, do nof indulge in grief on your own. We are used to disasters b y this time." With difficulty and still sobbing he managed to say in a choked voice, "Our Temple is gone! Gaius has given orders for a colossal statue to be set up right inside the shrine, named after Zeus himself." We were amazed at what he said and remained rooted to the ground in horror, unable to move. We stood dumb
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102
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
and helpless and on the point of collapse, our whole bodies unnerved. 190 Meanwhile other people arrived with the same painful story. Then we all shut ourselves up together, bewailed both our individual and our communal misfortunes, and discussed the other thoughts which came into our minds—for people chatter most in adversity. "Let us struggle", we said, "to avoid being utterly abandoned to incorrigible licence. We sailed in the middle of the winter storms, without know ing what a storm awaited us on land, far worse than a storm at sea. For Nature, which regulates the seasons, is responsible for the latter, and Nature is a saviour. For the former, however, a human being devoid of human feeling is responsible, a young man with new-fangled ideas and possessed of universal power for which noone can call him to account. Youth invested with absolute power and a prey to ungovernable impulses is an evil hard to combat. 191 Shall we be allowed to approach the desecrator of the holiest place or to open our mouths on the subject of the synagogues to him? It is obvious that a man who insults the famous and glorious Temple, which shines everywhere like the sun and receives the admiration of East and West, will pay no attention to less conspicuous and less 192 deeply revered places. Even if we were free to approach him, what have we to expect but death against which there can be no appeal? Well, let that be; we shall die anyhow. A glorious death met in the defence of the Law is a kind of life. But if no advantage will be derived from our death, will it not be madness to perish, particu larly when we are supposed to be ambassadors, and so to bring cala mity on those who sent us rather than on us who undergo it? 193 What is more, the natural enemies of wickedness among our fellowcountrymen will accuse us of impiety in that we selfishly thought about a matter of our own concern when the interests of the nation were in the utmost peril. It is essential that we subordinate minor matters to important ones, and the interests of a few to those of the whole nation, since the loss of the latter means the overthrow of 194 our civic position. How can it be right and proper to struggle vainly to prove that we are Alexandrians, when over our heads hangs the danger threatening the whole civic position of the Jews at large ? For besides the destruction of the Temple, there is a fear that this megalomaniac with his new-fangled ideas will order the 195 abolition of the name common to the whole nation as well. If, therefore, both the causes which we were sent to defend are lost, someone may say, 'Why, did they not know how to negotiate their safe return?' I should answer him, 'Either you lack the proper feelings of a well-born man, or you were not brought up and trained in the Scriptures. Truly well-born people are optimists, and the Laws create sound hopes in those who bestow more than a merely super196 ficial study on them.' Perhaps these troubles are sent to test the present generation and see how brave it is and whether it has been trained to bear misfortune reasonably and without faltering, and not to succumb at the first moment. AH human aid vanishes; let it
OIAflNOS APETON nPOTON
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202
203
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
vanish. But let our hope in God our Saviour, W h o has many times saved His people from hopeless and impossible situations, remain indestructible in our souls." 30 These were our arguments as we mourned over our unex pected calamities and at the same time encouraged each other with the hope of the return of calmer conditions. After a short pause we said to the messengers, " W h y are you sitting in silence after merely planting in our ears sparks which have kindled us and set us on fire ? You ought to go on and tell us what prompted Gaius to this action." They replied, " Y o u know his first and most important motive; the whole world knows it. He wants to be regarded as a god, and he has assumed that the Jews alone will refuse to acquiesce and that he could not inflict any greater wrong on them than the desecration of their holy Temple. He has been informed that it is the most beautiful temple in the world, and that it has been adorned from time immemorial by a constant stream of generous gifts. His quarrelsome and spiteful nature is set on appropriating it. He is more excited now than before by a letter sent b y Capito. Capito is the collector of the revenues of Judaea, and he has a grudge against its inhabitants. He arrived a poor man, but b y robbery and em bezzlement he amassed a large and varied fortune. Then he be came afraid of being impeached, and so worked out a scheme for evading accusations by slandering those whom he had wronged. The following incident gave him a starting-point for achieving his purpose. Jamnia, one of the largest cities in Judaea, has a mixed population, the majority being Jews and the rest gentiles who have wormed their way in from neighbouring countries. These settlers cause trouble and annoyance to those who may be described as the natives of the place b y continually violating some one or other of the Jews' traditions. These gentiles learnt from travellers how enthusiastic Gaius was about his own deification and how hostile he was towards the whole Jewish race. So, assuming that a suitable opportunity for an attack had come their way, they built a rough and ready altar of the most shoddy material, namely clay bricks, for the sole purpose of plotting against their fellow-townsmen. For they knew that they would refuse to tolerate the violation of their customs, which was precisely what happened. For when the Jews saw the altar and were greatly incensed at the effectual des truction of the sanctity of the Holy Land, they gathered together and pulled it down. The Greeks promptly went to Capito, who had engineered the whole performance. He thought that he had now got the god-sent opportunity which he had long been seeking, and sent a grossjy exaggerated account of the affair to Gaius. On reading it Gaius gave orders that in place of the brick altar erected in Jamnia as an insult, something richer and more pretentious, namely a gilded statue of superhuman size, should be set up in the Temple in the capital. The counsellors whose advice he followed were the best and wisest possible—Helicon, the slave aristocrat, an
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110
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
forces and maltreat those whom they had surrounded. These were 218 the arguments on which he based his delay. Then he was drawn in the other direction by the opposite arguments. He said, "This is the order of a ruler who is still young and who holds that whatever he wants is good and that what he has once decided upon is already virtually done, even though it may be completely useless and full of contentiousness and ostentation. He has overstepped human limits and is already enrolling himself among the gods. My life is in danger whether I oppose Gaius or give way to him; but if I give way, the danger is one of war and is perhaps an uncertain danger which will not necessarily materialize, whereas if I oppose, the danger comes from Gaius and is unavoidable and can be taken for 219 granted." Many of the Romans on Petronius' administrative staff in Syria were of this opinion also, knowing that they too would be immediate victims of Gaius' wrath and vengeance for their joint responsibility in preventing his orders from being carried out. 220 The construction of the statue provided a breathing-space for more detailed consideration. Gaius did not have one sent out from Rome —in my opinion through the providence of God, W h o was invisibly protecting His wronged people—nor did he tell Petronius to transfer whichever statue was reputed to be the most beautiful in Syria; for in that case the very speed with which the Law was trans221 gressed would speedily have kindled a war. Petronius thus had an opportunity to consider what would be his best course of action. (Sudden simultaneous crises cripple the reason.) He gave orders for the work to be carried out in one of the neighbouring countries. 222 He sent for the most intelligent craftsmen in Phoenicia, and gave them the materials. They set to work in Sidon. He then sent for the Jewish religious and civil authorities also, intending to tell them about Gaius' letter and at the same time to advise them to submit to the orders of their master and to keep before their eyes the dangers facing them. For the pick of the military forces in Syria was 223 ready and would deal death throughout the whole country. He thought that if he calmed them first, he would be able through them to induce the rest of the population also not to resist. But, as one might expect, he was mistaken. It is said that the Jewish leaders were aghast at his very first words and stood rooted to the ground at this story of unprecedented evil. Dumb with horror, they let the fountains of their tears flow without restraint. Then they 224 tore their beards and hair and commented thus:—"In the time of our great prosperity we have made many contributions towards a happy old age, only to behold now what none of our forefathers ever saw. But with what eyes shall we behold it ? Our eyes shall be torn out together with our unhappy souls and our pain-filled lives, before they see such an evil, a sight not fit to be seen, which it would be wrong even to hear or think about." 225 32 Such were their lamentations. But when the people in the Holy City and the rest of the country discovered what was afoot,
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THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
decided to make a voyage to Alexandria in Egypt. But such a great princeps would not think it advisable to sail over the open sea, because of the dangers involved and the magnitude of the escorting fleet and also out of regard for his physical comfort. All these diffi culties would easily be met by making the round journey via Asia and Syria. He would then be able both to sail and to go ashore every day, especially if most of his fleet consisted of warships in stead of merchantmen, since a coasting voyage is more convenient for warships, just as a voyage over the open sea is for cargo ships. In that case it would be necessary to provide fodder for the animals and generous supplies of food in all the Syrian cities, particularly those on the coast. For a vast crowd would arrive by land and sea, not only people who had travelled from Rome itself and Italy, but also people from the line of provinces right round to Syria who had joined Gaius' train; there would be a crowd of officials, another of soldiers—infantry, cavalry, and marines—and another of household retainers, who would be quite as numerous as the soldiers. Supplies would be needed, calculated to provide not only essentials but also the extravagant abundance which Gaius demanded. If Gaius re ceives this letter, Petronius thought, he will perhaps not only feel no anger but will approve of my foresight in having caused this delay not to please the Jews but in order to safeguard the gathering of the harvest. 34 As Petronius' advisers approved of his plan, he had the letter written and chose some energetic men who were used to cutting down the time they spent on journeys to take it to Gaius. When they arrived they delivered the letter. Gaius got red in the face before he had finished reading, and was filled with anger as he noted each point. When he reached the end he clapped his hands and said, "Excellent, Petronius; you have not learnt to obey the Emperor. Your successive magistracies have gone to your head. Up to now, apparently, you have not discovered even b y hearsay what Gaius is like; before long you shall find out b y experience. Y o u are concerned about the laws of the Jews, a race which I de test, and yet you disregard the sovereign commands of your ruler. You were afraid of the Jewish m o b ; had you then not got your military forces, which have inspired terror in the peoples of the East and in their Parthian rulers? But you pitied the Jews; so you paid more heed to feelings of pity than you did to Gaius? You are making an excuse now of the harvest; before long you will receive on your own head a harvest for which no excuses can be offered. Y o u blame the gathering of the crops and the preparations for my visit; well, even if Judaea became completely barren, could not the great and prosperous countries on her borders manage to supply what was needed and make up the deficiency of that one country? But why am I talking instead of acting? Why do people know my decisions in advance? The man who is going to enjoy his wages, let him be the first to learn of it from his own experience.
O I A Q N O L A P E T f t N nPOTON
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296
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
ask for my native city, if not Roman citizenship, at least freedom or exemption from taxation. But I have not dared to make any such request. Instead I make a very trifling request, a favour which it will cost you nothing to give, but which will be of the greatest value for my city to receive. For what greater blessing could your subjects receive than the goodwill of their princeps? It was in Jerusalem, Emperor, that your longed-for accession was first pro claimed, and from the Holy City the report spread to the adjacent countries. For this reason also Jerusalem deserves preferential treatment at your hands. For just as in families the eldest sons receive special prerogatives because they were the first to call their parents "father" and "mother", so in the same way, since this city was the first in the Orient to call you "Emperor", it deserves to re ceive extra blessings, or, if not that, at least equal ones with other cities. Having thus pleaded the cause of my city and made my re quests for it, I will turn at last to my request about the Temple. My lord Gaius, this Temple has never from the beginning admitted any man-made image, because it is the dwelling-place of the true God. The works of painters and sculptors are copies of gods per ceived by the senses. But the making of any picture or sculpture of the invisible God was considered by our forefathers to be blasphemous. Agrippa, your grandfather, respected the Temple, and so * did Augustus, by giving written instructions for the "first-fruits" from all over the empire to be sent thither, and b y his provision for regular sacrifices. And so did your great-grandmother As a result no-one, either Greek, barbarian, satrap, king, or bitter enemy, and no revolution, war, capture, sack, or anything else at all ever caused such a violation of the Temple as the introduction of a statue, an image, or any man-made work of art into it. For even if they were our enemies and hated the inhabitants of our country, yet shame or fear prevented them from putting an end to any of our immemorial practices in honour of the Creator and Father of the universe. For they knew that from these and similar actions sprang the irreparable disasters of divine punishment. For this reason they were chary of sowing seeds of impiety, lest they should be compelled to reap a harvest of utter destruction. 37 But why should I call foreign witnesses when I can present you with many from your own family? When Marcus Agrippa, your maternal grandfather, was in Judaea during the reign of my grandfather Herod, he immediately decided to travel up from the coast to the capital, which lies inland. When he had gazed on the Temple and the dignity of the priests and the piety of the native population, he was filled with admiration and considered that he had seen something very solemn and quite indescribable. His only topic of conversation with the friends who were with him at the time was praise for the Temple and everything connected with it. At any rate, every day during the stay which he made in Jerusalem to please Herod, he visited the Temple court, enjoying the spectacle
OIAQNOL A P E T O N
nPOTON
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369
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
us an important and solemn question: " W h y do you not eat pork?" At this inquiry our opponents again burst into such violent peals of laughter, partly because they were really amused and partly be cause they made it their business as flatterers to let his remark seem witty and entertaining, that one of the servants attending Gaius was annoyed at the scant respect being shown to the Emperor, in whose presence it was not safe for people who were not his intimate friends even to smile quietly. We replied by saying, "Different people have different customs, and we are forbidden to use some things, just as our adversaries are forbidden to use others." Someone then said, "For instance, many people do not eat lamb, which is a very ordinary kind of food." At that Gaius laughed and said, "Quite right too. It is not nice." While they fooled and joked at our expense in this way, we were at our wits' end. Then after some time Gaius said mockingly, " W e should like to know what political rights you enjoy." We began to give an explanation, but as soon as Gaius had had a taste of our pleading and realized that it was cogent, even before we had produced our strongest arguments, he cut us short, rushed on ahead into the large room, went round it, and gave orders for its windows all round to be filled again with transparent stones rather like colourless glass, which let the light through but keep out the wind and the heat of the sun. Then he walked on slowly ana asked us more calmly, " W h a t are you saying?" But when we began to marshal our next arguments, he ran back into another room and gave orders for some old paintings to be hung there. In this way our rights were rent asunder, dismembered, and almost completely broken up and shattered. As a result we were in despair and quite exhausted, and all the time expected nothing but death. Our souls were no longer within our bodies, but in our anguish they had left us to pray to the true God to restrain the fury of the man who falsely called himself god. God took pity on us and turned Gaius' heart to mercy. He became gentler and merely said, "I think that these men are not so much criminals as lunatics in not believing that I have been given a divine nature." With that he left us and told us to go away too. 46 So we escaped from a place more like a cross between a theatre and a prison than a lawcourt. For as in a theatre we had been hooted at, hissed, mocked, and jeered at outrageously, while as in a jail our feelings had been wounded, we had been tortured, and our whole souls had been racked both b y the blasphemies against the Deity and b y the threats uttered b y an Emperor pos sessed of great power and bearing malice not on someone else's account, which he could easily have given up, but on account of himself and his passion for deification, which he assumed that the Jews alone did not assent to and could not subscribe to. W e then gradually recovered our breath. It was not that our love of life made us cower at the thought of death, which we would gladly have chosen as if it were immortality, if that would have restored a single one of
O I A Q N O S
A P E T Q N
nPOTON
145
otxoSojxa; 8teTa£aTO, [xeytcrrov xal aefivov spcoTYjfxa yjpcoTa- "Sta Tt Xotpelcov xpecov a7c6xea0e;" 7raXtv 7rpo; TYJV 7ceuatv yeXco; e x TCOV ivTtStxcov xaTeppayrj TOOWTO;, T7J (xev Y)8o(Jt£vcov rfc 8k xat e7ct7Y)8eu6vTCov evexa xoXaxeta; U7rep TOU TO Xex6ev Soxetv ouv euTparceXta xat x * P
tTt
etpyjaOai, co; Ttva TCOV e7co[xevcov auTco OeparcovTcov iyavaxretv ini TCO 5 xaTa9pov7jTtxco; Ixetv a u T o x p a T o p o ; , I 9 ' ou xal TO fjtexptco; {xetStiaat 362 T o t ; (iY) 7ravu cruvTjOecxtv oux ao^aXe*;. "v6[xt[xa reap' eT^pot; erepa xal
XP*)
OT
S
a7roxptva[i.evcov 8k yjfxcov, OTI
evtcov cb; Yj{xtv xat
avrtStxot;
Tot;
a7retpY)Tat", xal 9a(xevou Ttv6; "cb;rcoXXotye xal TOG rcpoxetpoTaTa apvta 363 ou T r p o o ^ p o v T a t " , yeXaaa; "e5 ye" elrcev, "gem yap oux Yj8£a." Totau- 1 0 Ta 9XuapY]0£vTe; xal xaTaxepTOfirj0evTe; 7COTe 7capaaeaupfiivco;
ev afjtyjxavot; 9j[iev. elTa
"PouX6jxe0a jjtaOetv" 69Y)
"Ttat
XP*)^
2
m
9
otyi
l
364 7roXtTeta; Stxalot;." ap£a[/ivcov 8k Xlyetv xal StSacrxetv, a7royeucra(jtevo; TTJ; StxatoXoyta; xal auvel; cb; oux SaTtv euxaTa9pov7jTo;, 7tptv erceveyxetv Ta exupcoTepa, cruyxi^a; xal Ta 7rp6Tepa Spojzato; et; TOV (xeyav olxov 15 elae7n)STjcre xal 7tepteX0cbv 7rpoaTaTTet TOC; ev xuxXco OuptSa; avaXyj90^vat T o t ; uaXco Xeuxfj 7rapa7cX7jatco; 8ta9av£at XtOot;, 0? TO [xev 9C0; oux 365 e|X7ro8i£oucnv, ivejjtov Se etpyouat xat TOV A9' Y)Xtou 9Xoyfi6v. elTa 7ipoeXOcov aveu a7rou87J; [xeTptcoTepov avYipcoTa' "TI X e y e T e ; " auvetpetv Se ip^afxevcov TOC ax6Xou8a, etcrrp^xet 7raXtv et; Srepov olxov, ev & ypa9&; 2 0 366 apxeTU7rou; avaTeOyjvat TCpoae'TaTTev. OUTCO TCOV yjfxeT^pcov cnrapaTTopt^vcov xal StapTcofJievcov xal [xovov ou auyxoTTTojxivcov xal o~uvTptPo[xevcov Stxatcov, a7retpy)x6Te; xal [XYjSev ert aGevovTe;, ael 8k ouSev eTepov ?) OavaTov 7rpoaSoxcovTe;, oux^Tt T<X; ^uxa; ev auTOt; etxojzev, aXX' U7r' iycovta; e£co 7tpoeXyjXu0eaav txeTeuetv T6V aXy)0tv6v Oeov, tva TOU ^euScovufiou T a ; opya; 2 5 367 e7rtax7). 6 8k Xa(3cov OIXTOV yjficov Tp^7tet T6V Oufxov auTou 7cp6; e'Xeov xat iveOel; rcpo; TO fxaXaxcoTepov, TOGOUTOV etacbv "ou 7covy)pot [xaXXov r, SuaTuxet; elval (xot Soxouatv &v0pco7rot xal av6r)Tot [AY) 7rtaTeuovTe;, 8TI 0eou xexXifjpcofxat 9\iatv", a7caXXaTTeTat 7rpoaTa^a; xal Y][xtv
inip-
XeaOat. 368
46
30 TotouTov
ivrl
8txacrTY]pCou
OeaTpov ofiou
xal
SeafxcoTYjptov
ex9uy6vre; — cb; (iiv yap ev OedtTpco xXcoajxo; cruptTT^vTcov, xaTajicoxcofxevcov,
ipteTpa x ^
e i ) a
^
0 V T C 0 V
»
^
^
v
eipxTfj
7rXy)yal x a T a TCOV
a7rXayxvcov 9ep6[jtevat, Paaavot, x a T a T a a e t ; TT^; 6XY); ^UX>); Sta
Te
TCOV
et; TO 0etov pXaa9T]{xtcov xal Sta TCOV e7ravaTaaecov, &; TOCTOUTO; auTo- 3 5 xpaTCop l7raveTetveTO, fjtvyjatxaxcov ou rcepl eT^pou, paS^co; yap av (ieT£PaXev, aXXa 7cepl eauTou xal TTJ; el; TYJV £xO£coatv emOujita;, ^ jx6vou; u7reXa(xpave fx>)Te auvatvetv 'IouSalou; {x>JTe SuvaoOat auvu7roypa^aa0at 369 — (i.6Xt; ave7rveucra{xev, oux ercetSy) 9tXo^coouvre; OavaTov xaTe7TT7)xe^ev, 8v iajxevot xaOanep aOavaalav elX6(xe6a Sv, el 8rj Tt TCOV vojxljxcov gfjteXXev 4 0
146
370
371
372
373
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
our Laws, but that we knew that we should throw our lives away with great ignominy and achieve nothing by it. For the sufferings of envoys recoil on those who have sent them. With all this in mind we were able to raise our heads for a little while. But other circum stances terrified us, and we were in a great state of agitation and anxiety, wondering what decision Gaius would reach and give, and what sentence he would pronounce. For had he really heard our case, when he had taken no notice of some of the facts? Was it not hard that the future of all the Jews everywhere should be at stake in the persons of us five envoys? If Gaius were to give in to our enemies, what other city would remain quiet? What city would refrain from attacking the Jews living in it ? What synagogue would be left unmolested? What political right belonging to those who order their lives according to Jewish traditions would not be over thrown ? Both the specifically Jewish Laws and their general rights vis-a-vis each individual city would be overthrown, shipwrecked, and sent to the bottom of the sea. Arguments of this kind over whelmed us and dragged us down into the depths. People who had hitherto apparently been supporting us failed us. At any rate, when we summoned them they did not stand their ground, although they were at home, but slunk away fearfully, knowing full well Gaius' desire to be regarded as a god. Thus I have set forth quite briefly the reason for Gaius' hatred for the whole Jewish nation. I must now proceed to the palinode.
7ccov. The transition of thought is abrupt between 2 and 3, but Philo seems to mean here that the first great fact of Nature, to be apprehended by the intellect, is God's providential care for mankind and especially for the Jews. If the interpretation of 6 7raptov xatpo; . . . . U7ro06aei T a t ; oTcXojxaxtat;. Military training was under taken at the age of seventeen b y young men destined for an eques trian or senatorial career. It was preceded by some three years of preparatory training, tirocinium, upon which some entered even
COMMENTARY ON §§ 27-32
177
before receiving the toga virilis. Gemellus is unlikely to have reached the age of seventeen at his death (note on 23 exTOXISOVet; (xeipaxtov).
The bestowal of the title Princeps luventutis on him is not incon sistent with Philo's statement here, since it was conferred on three other Julio-Claudian princes before they were of the age for military service—on C. and L. Caesar both at the age of fifteen, in 5 and 2 B.C. respectively (Res Gestae ch. 14), and on Nero in 51 at the age of thirteen (T. A. xii, 41, 1). at [ x e X f r a i . . . .
Cf. the note on 28 navreX*;; e^ouata.
31
The exact date of Gemellus' death is unknown. Dio places it among the last events of 37 (lix, 8, 1), but the fact that successors were not chosen to fill his place and that of Silanus, whose death Philo relates in 62-5, in the college of the Arval Brethren until 24th May, 38 (AFA p. 112), points rather to a date in the early months of 38 for both their deaths. With Gemellus died his relationship of son to Gaius. In the minutes of the Arvals and on his tombstone (CIL VI, 892) he is simply Drusi Caesaris filius. ' T h e public peace was consulted when a possible rival of the Emperor was removed; but that does not excuse the act or its author" (Balsdon, 37); cf. the removal of Agrippa Postumus by Tiberius and that of Britannicus by Nero. If the case of Flaccus, prefect of Egypt, is typical (Fl. 1 0 - n , 22), it seems that the death of Gemellus engendered despair in his sup porters. This suggests that as long as Gemellus had lived, it had mattered little to have supported him, but that once he was thought dangerous enough to be removed, his adherents could be deemed to have supported a traitor; Gaius would then have no compunction about taking reprisals on them for any wrongs (real or fancied) which they had done to him in the past. 32 6 [XTjSevi; STI Xet7rofzewj. Although Philo is writing under Clau dius, who, as the events of January, 41, showed, could be a rallyingpoint if necessary, he completely overlooks him here. <XOIVG)VOU>. Supplied by Cohn. Mangey suggested altering yjyet
jxovta; to auyyeveta;
o
r
^ye^ovtSo; otxou.
eOeXoxaxoovTtov. Here connoting deliberate malice, as in Fl. 40; cf. Box's note. SeuTepov. Actually the third? Dio and Suetonius link the death of Gemellus with that of Silanus (lix, 8; G. 23, 3), and this is corro borated by the AFA (above). Dio places Macro's death later (lix, 10, 6). Suetonius mentions it separately from the others (G. 26, 1),
178
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
but as his material is not arranged chronologically, this means little. The three executions will probably all have occurred within a fairly short period. Cf. the note on 59 ou 7roXXoct; Oarepov Y)[x£pat;. exovteTo. Philo continues the metaphor from wrestling introduced in 29. Maxptovo;. Q. Naevius Cordus Sutorius Macro was sole praetorian prefect from October, 31, until his death. A recently discovered inscription from the amphitheatre which he donated by will to Alba Fucens (presumably his home town) reveals for the first time his full name (correcting the "Sertorius" of Dio lviii, 9, 2) and the in formation that he held the prefecture of the vigiles before that of the praetorians (L'Annee Epigraphique 1957, no. 250). ou fi6vov dbroSeixOevTi rtfepfai. Philo's account of Macro's relations with Gaius after his accession is given in 41 ff. et; TO -ruxetv TYJ; Y)YefJ.ovta;. During the last few years of Tiberius' life Macro realized that Gaius and not Gemellus was the "rising sun" to be cultivated (T. A. vi, 45, 5; Dio lviii, 28, 4). Some of his alleged services to Gaius at that time are given by Philo in 35-9; for others see the note on 24 ex7ro8tov eyeylvYjTo. Although the rumour that he served Gaius by hastening Tiberius' death is probably a slander (note on 25 6716 TYJ; etfxapfxevYj;), he ensured the loyalty of the military forces in Italy to Gaius without delay once Tiberius was dead (58), and, after conveying Tiberius' will to the senate (Dio lix, 1, 2), he was apparently instrumental in getting that body to declare it null and void, so that Gaius became sole Emperor (60, fin.; Dio lix, 10, 6; S. G. 26, 1). 33 v lyeyevYjTO.
avu7rouXot;. Used by Philo also in Praem. 163. The only other writer whom L. and S. mention as using the word is the sixth century rhetorician Choricius. eXP*) x a t ; vouOeatat;. Philo turns now to Macro's relations with Gaius after his accession. 41-56 expand FL 14-5. Macro assumed that his services to Gaius in helping to secure his accession had laid the new Emperor under a permanent obligation to him, and in mis guided zeal he presumed on them to try to act as his mentor. \in auTou. Macro did not want Gaius to throw his own life away by carelessness. 42 xaTaSap06vTa. Restored by Cohn for the xaTa8ap0evTa of the MSS, which Turnebus and subsequent editors had accepted. Cf. Reiter, Prolegomena, lxxiii. Ttva; exptavco; . . . . For Gaius' passion for dancing, music, the theatre, and the more exciting entertainments of the circus and amphitheatre, see also 45; S. G. 18; 54-5; Dio lix, 2 , 5 ; 5,2-5; 7, 2-9. Cf. the note on 203 'A7reXXyj Ttvt TpaycoScp. Suetonius and Dio go further than Philo and make Gaius even perform as an actor, a singer, a dancer, a gladiator, and a charioteer. He seems to have resembled Nero in having a fairly highly developed artistic side to his nature (365 suggests an interest in painting also), which dis played itself in the same undignified ways. It is quite credible that Macro tried, as did Burrus and Seneca later with Nero, to restrain the young Emperor's theatrical propensities. [JLYJ u7ro[xetSt(5vTa. M Y ) is frequently used in Hellenistic Greek where classical writers use ou. Many other examples occur in the Legatio. [xetpaxtcoSlaTepov. Gaius was not yet twenty-five when he acceded, but there were times when he resented any emphasis on his youth and apparently wished to be thought older than he was (Dio lix, 13. 6; 19, 2-3). 43 emxXlva; 7tpo; o5;. In accordance with the convention of ancient historiography, Philo uses direct speech for Macro's private and sometimes whispered admonitions to Gaius. But even though the details of these conversations must be imaginary, the general picture drawn of Macro as an "edifying bore" (Balsdon, 38), whose 9
T0
182
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
advice, although good, was tactlessly given and served merely to irritate Gaius, may well be largely correct. Goodenough maintains that the Legatio is addressed to the new Emperor Claudius, under whom it was written (note on I rjfiet; ot y l p o v r e ; ) , and consists of a treatise, in veiled form, on the proper functions of a ruler, with special reference to his treatment of the Jews (Politics, 19-20; Introduction, 75-6). He suggests that in 43-51 Philo is expounding his own philosophy of kingship and using Macro as the mouthpiece for his thoughts, which it would have been impertinent for him to voice in his own person (Politics, 103-5). Philo's political ideal seems to have been the Roman government as he himself had experienced it during the earlier part of his life— the carefully disguised and benevolent rule of a monarch over a so-called "democracy" (ibid., 86 ff.). In making Macro into the * philosophical adviser whom philosophers recommended kings to follow, Philo gives an idealized portrait of him, utterly different from that of Tacitus, to whom he is a villain (4. vi, 48, 4). 44
&TO7COV. Originally "strange"; in Hellenistic Greek "wicked". 7coi[iiva Ttva xal e7rtaTaT7)v aylX**);. Cf.
20 vo(iet Ttvt xal ayeXapXT)
and 76. 45
TYJV ev TO£; emnq&eufi.aat xaT6p8coatv. Colson takes this "in the Stoic sense of the moral state which produces xaTop8o>[iaTa, i.e., TOC x a T ' a p e T f y evepyYjfzaTa" and suggests that the virtue achieved which made these performances worth looking at was AvSpela (note ad loc). 47 In 47-9 Philo is probably thinking in particular of the govern ments of Augustus and Tiberius and of their restoration and main tenance of the pax Romana, which had allowed the resumption of agriculture and commerce after the chaos of the civil wars. On the safety of the seas see the note on 146. x a T a T a ; <xvTt86aet;. For a study of commerce within the empire see Charlesworth, Trade-routes. avrexTtvouatv. L. and S. and A. Bailly, Dictionnaire GrecFrangais, cite Philo only as using this verb. The meaning given, "repay", is appropriate in Heres 104, Jos. 267, Mos. ii, 7, and Decal. 117, but not here. 48 ^caXeuet. This verb is used also in LA i, 7 1 , and iii, 6 and 114, Spec, i, 215, and Aet. 86. 49 e ^ T a ^ e T o . Although this verb sometimes occurs in Philo in its usual classical sense of "scrutinize", in the passive it far more fre9
COMMENTARY ON §§ 43*55
quently bears comparatively colourless meanings such as "prove to b e " , "take one's place among" (cf. the similar meaning "to be counted among" occasionally found in classical Greek: e.g., Andocides iv, 2; Demosthenes xviii, 217, and xix, 291; and Dionysius of Halicarnassus vi, 59, 3), and "be found in": e.g., LA iii, 246; Heres 114; Mut. 65 and 267; Spec, iii, 172; Praem. 56 and 9 1 ; and other references in Leisegang s.v. e£eTa£eo8at. 50
51
52
53
55
T6 xotvov av8pa>7C(ov axa<po;.
Cf. 149 TO XOIVOV o-xacpo;. The earliest
extant use of the very common metaphor of the ship of state occurs in Alcaeus fr. 18 ( = 46A in E. Diehl, Anthologia Lyrica Graeca I (1936), 4, 108). H. W . Smyth cites many later passages, mostly from the Greek poets, in which the metaphor is also found (Greek Melic Poets (1900), 215). (3ouXeu8evT<x. One codex, L, gives PouX7]86vTa, read by Turnebus. With this reading, which Goodenough adopts in his translation of the passage (Politics, 104), it is presumably the wishes of the subjects rather than those of the ruler that are in question. 8 em TavavTtoc. I.e., he was anti-suggestible. a7ce8appei 8uaa>7retv. If the account which Philo has given ot Macro's behaviour is at all correct, one cannot help feeling some sympathy for the resentment which Gaius showed against him. Philo, however, idealizing Macro and intent on blackening Gaius, can see no justification for his attitude. With 53-6 cf. T. A. xiv, 52, 6 exueret magistrum, satis amplis doctoribus instructus maioribus sais (of Nero). 7rocpa TIVI [xa8)pa to join it early in the principate, but it is not certain whether before or after 38. (Nicopolis, two or three miles east of Alexandria (BJ iv, 659; Strabo xvii, 1, 10, 795), counted as little more than a suburb of the city, and the army is sometimes said to be quartered in the city itself: e.g., Strabo xvii, 1, 12, 797; BJ ii, 387,494.) See further Kubitschek in P.-W. s.v. Legio, coll. 1506-7, 1791-3; H. M. D. Parker, The Roman Legions (1928), 194-6; Lesquier, L'Armee Romaine d'Egypte (1918), 58-60, 127-8; Box, notes on Fl. 5 TOCI^ • • • • Suvajxeatv and i n crrpaTapxou. 7rpo(ntotou{iivou. In the In Flaccum Philo goes further than this: instead of making the prefect merely turn a blind eye to the Greeks' attacks on the Jews, he tries to make him directly responsible for the desecration of the synagogues (note on 134 elx6va?" (note ad 153
loc.). TCOV 7rap' exaorou; 7raTp(cov.
Augustus continued the
republican
policy of not interfering with the religious practices of subject peoples, provided that they were not believed to be either morally undesirable or politically dangerous (as were the Bacchic cult in 186 B.C. and Druidism in the first century A . D . ) . No attempt was made to impose religious uniformity on the empire. Josephus pays tribute to this feature of Roman rule—magnanimitatemmediocritatemque Romanorum, (In Ap. ii, 73).
quoniam subiectos non cogunt patria iura
transcendere
COMMENTARY ON §§ 1*51-155
233
TCOV Ttofiafcctov. A reference to Augustus' attempted religious restoration in Italy. TCO [uyiQzi TTJ*; T o o w n q s yjyefxovta^ e7r6(xevo^. Augustus' aim in officially instituting the worship of Roma et Augustus was to increase the prestige of Rome and to foster the loyalty of her subjects by providing them with a common worship transcending the boundaries of local native cults. The fundamental character of ruler-cult was political rather than religious. As A. D. Nock puts it, "in general, the ruler had no interest in the cult of himself except as a factor in the cohesion and organization of the State . . . . Between him and his subjects the issue was one of loyalty: he desired to be assured of it, to receive what soon became the standard form of homage, and they to express it" (CAH X , 482). 154 ercapOrjvai. Wendland's conjecture for the clearly corrupt SSOYJVOCI of the MSS. Similar suggestions are 8iap89jvat (Cohn) and the simple apOrjvai (Colson). Mangey suggested ot8T)89jvat. TO [XY]8I7COTC 8eov IOCUTOV lOeXYJaat 7rpo<xei7rctv. Cf. Claudius' de precation of divine honours in his Letter (47-51). Augustus allowed temples to be erected to himself in the provinces only if they were dedicated to Roma also, and refused to have any temple in Rome itself (S. Aug. 52). For to his fellow-countrymen he was, officially, not a god during his lifetime. Only his genius received worship. But the line between the worship of Augustus' genius and the wor ship of the man himself was a very fine one, and in practice the Emperor himself was virtually the object of worship. Occasional references, e.g., in Horace (Carm. i, 2, 4 1 - 5 ; iii, 3, n - 1 2 (if bibit is correct); iii, 5, 2-3; iv, 5, 31-5; Epist. ii, 1 , 1 5 - 7 ) and in Propertius (iii, 4, 1), show that he was popularly regarded as divine before his death even in Italy. In the East he was worshipped as a god as the Hellenistic kings had been, and, whatever his views were on being addressed as a god, official documents sometimes so designated him (e.g., V. Ehrenberg and A. H. M. Jones, Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius (1949), nos. 106-9, 5 - 6 ) . I3:
155
In 155-61 Philo appeals in detail to the protection which Augustus and Tiberius had given to the Jews' religious liberty as a precedent justifying the continued exemption of their synagogues from molestation. 7rcos o5v a7re86x °i Reiter punctuates 7rco^ ouv imSix^o TYJV 7t£pav a7toTO(jLYjv, YJV oux Yjyv6et The punctuation here adopted, with the removal of the Y}V of the MSS, is that of Mangey, eT
234
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
which is followed by Colson. The latter comments on Reiter's punctuation that "there is little or no point in the question 'How did he approve of the section beyond the Tiber?' By the very small change involved in expelling YJV after (X7COTO(XYJV, the course of the ar gument is clearly shown" (note ad loc). 7i£pav TOU Ttpipeox; 7coTa{xou. Apparently the only Jewish settle ment in Rome known to Philo was that on the right bank of the Tiber, in the district now called Trastevere. The deduction which may be drawn from this—that the Trastevere settlement was the original one—is confirmed by the fact that the Jewish catacomb of Monteverde on the Via Portuensis in that area appears from its brickstamps, the earliest of which belong to the first century B.C., to be the oldest of the six Jewish catacombs so far discovered in Rome, as well as being the largest. The Jewish colony in Rome dates back to the second century B.C. at least, if there is any truth in the tradition recorded in the epitomes of Valerius Maximus (i, 3, 3) that the Jews were expelled from Rome in 139 B.C. for practices which sound like proselytism. For discussions of this tradition see, e.g., F. Cumont in Compter Rendues de I'Acad. des Inscr. (1906), 66-7, and " A propos de Sabazius et du Judaisme" in Le Musee Beige xiv (1910), 55-60; H. Vogelstein, A History of the Jews in Rome (1940), 10-15. The large size of the Jewish colony in Rome at the time of Augustus is indicated b y the tradition that over eight thousand Jews supported a Palestinian deputation which appealed to him in A . D . 4 (AJ xvii, 300; BJ ii, 80). The Jewish communities on the left bank of the Tiber known to us from inscriptions and from the discovery of Jewish catacombs on the Via Appia, Via Nomentana, and Via Labicana, probably developed from the first century A . D . , the period to which the brick-stamps of those catacombs belong. For fuller treatment of the Jewish settlements in Rome see CI J I, lxviii-lxxxi, and, for the brick-stamps, 1 0 - n , 51, 55, 211-27; S. Collon, "Remarques sur les quartiers juifs de la Rome antique" in Melanges d'Archeol. et d'Hist. (ficole Fran?aise de Rome) lvii (1940), 72-94. 'Pcofiatoi 8k Y^aav ol 7tXetou^ a7ceXeu0spto0eVres. There is epigraphic evidence for a "synagogue of the Vernacidi" in Rome (CIJ I, 318, 383, 398, 494), although J.-B. Frey thinks that the term Vernaculi may have been used in this connection to mean Jews born in Rome rather than Jewish slaves born in their masters' homes (CIJ I, lxxvii). Philo's reference to freedmen may cover the sons of freed-
COMMENTARY ON § 155
235
men as well as actual ex-slaves, as E. T. Merrill thinks that Tacitus' libertini
generis
(A. ii, 85, 5) does (Classical
Philology
xiv
(1919),
366-8). Formal manumission conferred Roman citizenship on its recipient. So-called 'informal ' manumission conferred no political rights until the Lex Junia f (of 25 or 17 B.C.; see M. de Domenicis in 1
Milanges
d'Archiol.
1
et d'Hist.
offerts a A.Piganiol
(1966),5 ff.) f gave
to slaves freed in this way rights similar to those formerly enjoyed by the Latin colonies. The Lex Aelia Sentia of A . D . 4 gave the same status to slaves f formally f manumitted under the age of thirty. To these freedmen various avenues to the attainment of full Roman citizenship were open. See further A. M. Duff, Freedmen in the Early
Roman
Empire
(1928), 50-2; 75-85; H. Last in CAH
X,
429-34. Philo may well be using the terms " R o m a n " here and " R o m a n citizenship" in 157 loosely to cover Jewish freedmen with Latinitas Juniana as well as those with full Roman rights. The proportion of the two types of Jewish freedmen is impossible to estimate, but the reference in 158 to Jews receiving free corn sug gests that by Augustus' time many of them had acquired the full franchise. (The Jews whom Cicero mentions in a speech of 59 B.C. as attending contiones (Pro FL 28, 66-7) did not necessarily possess full citizenship, since non-citizens were admitted to these gatherings.) atxM-aXcoToi. The origin of the Jewish colony in Rome is not known, but traders probably formed its nucleus. It is unlikely that Jewish prisoners-of-war reached Italy betore the first Roman cam paigns on Jewish soil, those which culminated in Pompey's capture of Jerusalem in 63 B.C. The many thousands of prisoners captured during Pompey's eastern campaigns included Jews (AJ xiv, 7 1 ; BJ i, 154), who presumably accompanied their king Aristobulus to Rome for Pompey's triumph in September, 61 (Plutarch Pomp. 45, 4; Appian Mith. 116-7); for other references and for the epigraphic record see E. Pais, Fasti Triumphales
Popnli
Romani
(1920), 252-66,
and A. Degrassi, Inscr. Italiae X I I I , i, 566. The so-called "syna gogue of the Libertini" in Jerusalem (Acts vi, 9) is believed to be connected with Pompey's captives, later manumitted, or their descendants; see L.-H. Vincent, "Decouverte de la 'Synagogue des Affranchis' k Jerusalem" in RB x x x (1921), 247-77, especially 258 ff. Jewish captives may have found their way to Rome in 53 B.C., when large numbers were enslaved as a reprisal for a rebellion (AJ xiv, 120; BJ i, 180; the figure thirty thousand is, however, probably an exaggeration). After the capture of Jerusalem in 37 LEGATIO AD GAIUM
16
236
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
B.C., C. Sosius struck coins in Zacynthus portraying on the reverse a captive Jew and Jewess mourning at the foot of a trophy (H. A . Grueber, Coins
of the Roman
Republic
in the B. M. (1910) II, 508,
no. 1 4 6 = E . A. Sydenham, The Coinage
of the Roman
2
Republic
(revised b y Haines, Farrer, and Hersch, 1952), 199, no. 1272); and his triumph in 35 (Pais, op. cit., 302) presupposes the display of Jewish prisoners. On the numismatic evidence of this period see further H. St. J. Hart in JThS new series iii (1952), 176-80. 156 Y)7CI(TTOCTO. T o say that Augustus " k n e w . . . . " implies that Jewish religious liberty had been protected b y Rome before his time. The formulation of Rome's policy towards the Jews had been largely the work of Julius Caesar, whose lead Augustus followed. Philo, however, idealizes Augustus throughout this treatise, and here he goes as far as he dares in representing him as the author of the Jews' security by making no direct mention of Caesar or his work. r
7rpoaeuxav ixkoye\)$ 6
Les
carriires
KOCTTITCOV
procuratoriennes
eari
TCOV TTJS
iquestres
TouSata^.
(i960), I, 25. Alternatively
Philo's *Iou8ocla. The episode which, according to Philo, provoked the issue of Gaius' order, is not recorded b y Josephus. The disturbances at Jamnia probably occurred in the winter of 39-40 (cf. Balsdon in JRS, 19), if Capito's letter about them reached Gaius b y March or earlier. rf)v 'Ia[xveiotv. In Hebrew Jabneh (II Chron. xxvi, 6 and rabbinic writings), a town near the coast, between Joppa and Ascalon. For its history see Schurer II, 126-8; JE s.v. Jabneh; P.-W. s.v. Jamnia;
Provinces
cf. references in A. H. M. Jones, Cities of the Eastern
Roman
(i937)» 254, 259, 271-5, 281.
Iv T O T S [laXtara. Reiter reinstates the TOIC; of the MSS in place of the emendation TOCIS of previous editors, arguing (Prolegomena, lxxiii) that the phrase Iv TOIo$. This was probably true b y the winter of 39-40. See the note on 115 jx6vou^ yip 'IouSalou^ i>7re(JX£7reTO. Pcofiov. If the disturbances in Jamnia occurred in the winter of 39-40, it is possible, although no definite evidence is available, that the altar was built in connection with Gaius' expedition to Gaul and Germany—as a votive offering for his success rather than a thankoffering for his "victory", since the latter is not likely to have been known in Palestine so early. Cf. the hecatomb offered by the Jews in anticipation of a "German victory" (356). auvotxouatv. Not o-u[X7roXtTat. Herod the Great had evidently re duced Jamnia from the status of a city (attested by A J xiii, 395) to that of the head of a toparchy, an administrative district subdivided into villages, since it is described as a toparchy in connection with Salome's bequest of her estate to Livia (AJ xviii, 3 1 ; j B / ii, 167). This change of status meant that it ceased to be autonomous and to have jurisdiction over its surrounding territory, and that, strictly speaking, it had no 7uoXvrat. It retained its non-city status when it passed into imperial hands, and did not become a city again until much later, perhaps in the course of the third century programme of urbanization (A. H. M. Jones, op. cit. 281). 202 xaOatpouat. Philo makes the messenger express no horror or even concern at this action of the Jews. In Deut. vii, 5 and xii, 2-3 the Jews are instructed to break down pagan altars. On the other hand, the Septuagint version of Exod. xxii, 28, "Thou shalt not revile God", has 6eo\i;, and this version, quoted in AJ iv, 207, is inter preted by Philo and Josephus as forbidding them to show disrespect for pagan gods and temples (In Ap. ii, 237; Mos. ii, 205; Spec, i, 53; t
264
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
QE ii, 5). And indeed, it was essential for the safety of the Diaspora communities that they should be restrained from expressing their scorn for paganism b y attacks on the cults of the gentiles among whom they lived. Cf. E. R. Goodenough, The Jurisprudence of the Jewish
Courts
in Egypt
(1929), 47-8, 245; S. Belkin, Philo
and the
Oral Law (1940), 24; and the note on "Religious Tolerance" in J. H. Hertz, The Pentateuch
and Haftorahs
V, Deuteronomy
(1936),
54-5. The Jews' destruction of the Jamnian altar was an act of provocation and intolerance deserving punishment. It was presum ably this sort of thing which Claudius had in mind when, in his edict addressed to the Jews of Alexandria, he forbade them xav
xaXot dufxPouXoi. For other occurrences of (JU[A(3OI>XO;—"member of the imperial consilium*
see Magie, De Vocabulis,
70. The "curious
rubbing in by Philo of the word au[z(3ot>Xos, especially the aufxPouXou Ta^tv (204), which suggests ironically some kind of formal status, is his way of driving home the point that Gaius took no notice of any but court favourites and sycophants, instead of sober statesmen" (J. A. Crook, Consilium
Principis
(1955), 40).
'EXtxcovt.
See the note on him in 166. 7repiTpi(XfA<xTi. Literally a "thing worn smooth b y rubbing". In Demosthenes xviii, 127 it means "hack". In Aristophanes Nub. 447 the idea of cunning is perhaps included; cf. xptfifxa in Nub. 260 and Aves
431 in the sense of "an old hand at".
A native of Ascalon (205) and a wellknown actor despite Philo's scornful T I V I . Cf. S. Vespasianus 19, 1. Gaius took a keen interest in the theatre (cf. the note on 42 YJ Ttva? exfjtav&s . . . . ) , but he shocked public opinion b y associating with 'ATteXXyj xtvt TpaycpSw.
COMMENTARY ON §§ 202-205
265
the generally despised class of actors, and by even numbering Apelles and Mnester among his close friends (Dio lix, 5, 2; S. G. 55, 1). The part played by Apelles and Helicon in getting Gaius* order for the desecration of the Temple issued does not rule out the pos sibility that it was issued from Gaul (as is suggested in the note on 199 7rap!XTe8YjXTai vuv). It is quite conceivable, although there is no supporting evidence, that they accompanied Gaius on his expedition. sxa7TY]Xsu(je TYJV topav. Gaius is reputed to have had unnatural relations with Mnester (S. G. 36, 1), and Philo here insinuates that the same was the case with Apelles. 204 8aot 8k . . . . dcvcoTaTco; Ironical, whether read as a question (C.-W.-R.) or as a statement (Colson). (xc0' 00 (xev. Helicon. Cf. 168-71. aarlov. Like Nero, Gaius is said to have performed as a singer, etc. (Dio lix, 5, 4-5; S. G. 54). 205 'AoxaXcovo?. Ascalon, which made itself independent of the Seleucids in 104 B.C. and began its own era (BMCGC, Palestine, xlviii, 106 ff.), was the only city on the Phoenician coast from Dora to the Egyptian border to escape annexation by Alexander Jannaeus in the first century B.C. (It is not included in the list of Hasmonaean conquests in A J xiii, 395). It apparently retained its independence in Pompey's settlement of the East in 63, for it is not listed among the Phoenician cities removed from Jewish control then and added to the province of Syria (AJ xiv, 76; BJ i, 156-7). In 36 B.C., when most of the Phoenician coastal strip from the river Eleutherus (north of Area) to the Egyptian border was given b y Antony to Cleopatra, Ascalon was apparently included; the only exceptions specified are Tyre and Sidon (AJ xv, 92-5; BJ i, 361), and Cleop atra's head was shown on one coin of Ascalon (BMCGC, Palestine, 108, no. 20). It regained its free status in 30; when Octavian re stored to Herod the Great the parts of his kingdom annexed by Cleopatra and enlarged it by the addition of several Phoenician cities which had been lost to the Jews since 63, Ascalon was not included (^4/ xv, 217; BJ i, 396). Although the city thus lay outside Herod's kingdom, he had a palace there (later part of his sister Salome's estate; A J xvii, 321), and made many gifts to it (BJ i, 422). S. Perowne accepts, with slight modification, the statements of Julius Africanus (apud Eus. HE i, 6, 2-3, and 7, n ) and Justin Martyr (Dial. c. Tryph. 52) that Herod was of Ascalonite ancestry, and regards this as the explanation of his attitude towards the city
266 (The
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS Life
and
Times
of Herod
the Great
(1956), 21-2).
Ascalon
remained independent at least until the end of the first century A . D . , when Pliny calls it liber um oppidum (NH v, 68). At an unknown date but before 359 it became a colony, which involved its incorpor ation in the province of Palestine; it still retained the title "free", although it was then meaningless (U. Wilcken und L. Mitteis, Grundziige
und
Chrestomathie
der
Papyruskunde
(1912)
II,
ii,
no. 271). aao|i.(3aT6fia. 313 elxa. This second enactment is the corollary of the first. The tension between the Jews and the Greeks in the East was such that the grant of religious liberty to the former had to be safeguarded by explicitly prohibiting the gentiles from molesting them in the exercise of their privileges. lepo7co{i7uou^.
314
rJ)v $ S6o? cvfou; 7roieiv). See further JE s.v. Sacrifice, especially 616-8. 5TE SieSe^to TYJV Yjyefioviav. See 1 1 - 3 for the universal rejoicings at Gaius* accession. 7taaa Y) otxoufiivY) cruvevoaYjaev. Cf. 16 Ta yap (xlpyj 7cavTa TYJ? o l x o u [XCVYJ^
auTco cTuvev6aYja£.
x a T a rJ)v iXniBx TYJS Tepfxavix^ V I X Y J ^ . It is clear from the use of eknlq that the hecatomb was offered before, or soon after, the be ginning of Gaius' northern campaign, and not after its allegedly successful conclusion. The campaign was apparently mooted in the summer of 39, since one of the reasons given for the building of the bridge of boats across the bay of Baiae, which Dio dates to that
year (lix, 1 7 ) , was ut Germaniam alicuius
immensi
operis
fama
et Britanniam,
territaret
quibus
imminebat,
(S. G. 19, 3). The Jewish
sacrifice may therefore have been offered at any time during the summer or autumn of that year—which incidentally indicates that the Alexandrian Jews had been able to return to normal life and recover from the losses suffered during the previous year very quickly. Since there is nothing to show whether the Jewish envoys heard of it before leaving Alexandria for Italy or after their arrival there (via traders coming from Palestine or Egypt?), their knowl edge of it does not help to determine the year of their voyage. 359 {lifzoic. For the mime in the ancient world and its popularity in Alexandria see P.-W. s.v. Mimos; J. R. Allardyce Nicoll, Masks, 2
W . Beare, The Roman Stage
Mimes,
H. Reich, Der Mimus and Miracles
(1903);
(1931), 17-134;
(1955), 139-48; Box, notes on Fl. 34;
cf. Musurillo, AA, 247-8. Philo uses the mime as a comparison in describing two episodes in the anti-Jewish disturbances in Alexan dria in 38 also—the Carabas-procession (Fl. 38; cf. Box's note) and the lynching of the Jews (Fl. 72, with Colson's note, Loeb Philo I X ) . Even if performances of mimes were not patronized by strict Jews, the literary form must have been familiar to them. Box cites a Midrash which mentions the mocking of Jews in the theatre and circus and jokes against them in the mimes. Some of the grotesque bronze and terracotta statuettes which G. M. A. Richter argues
322
THE EMBASSY TO GAIUS
represent mimic actors (in Amer. Journ. Archaeol. 2nd series xvii (1913), 149-56) have exaggeratedly large hooked noses. See, e.g., Nicoll, op. cit., 48, fig. 32, and 7 1 , figg. 68 and 69; less striking examples are 47, fig. 31 (probably from Egypt), 48, figg. 33 and 34, and 49, fig. 37. Is it possible that these statuettes represent Jewish characters which appeared in mimic farces? The style of the faces recalls the Pompeian fresco of "The Judgement of Solomon" (in the Naples Museum), in which the figures are pigmies with unnaturally large heads and hooked noses; for discussion and a reproduction see J.-B. Frey, "Les Juifs a Pomp&" (in RB xlii (1933), 365-83), 375-81 and PI. X X I I . Possibly that fresco, which, like so many others at Pompeii, is Alexandrian in style, represents a scene from a mime. 361
8ti Tt xotpetav xpe&v dbrexeoOe; Box regards this question as mimic (note on Fl. 38). "Clean" animals, which the Jews were al lowed to eat, were cloven-hoofed animals which chewed the cud, notably the ox, sheep, and goat. Animals not fulfilling both these conditions were "unclean" and were forbidden as food. In the food laws of the Pentateuch the pig is one of the animals excluded b y name because, although cloven-hoofed, it does not chew the cud (Levit. xi, 2-8; Deut. xiv, 3-8). Cf. Philo in Spec, iv, 100-9, where he gives an allegorical explanation of the regulation. See further JE
s.vv.
Dietary
Laws;
and
Clean and unclean
animals.
The Jews'
abstention from pork amused and puzzled the gentiles, who specu lated about the reason for it (In Ap. ii, 137; Plutarch Mor. 669c671c; T. H. v, 4; Juvenal xiv, 98-9; Sextus Empiricus Pyrrh. Hypot. iii, 223). The Egyptians also abstained from pork (Herodotus ii, 47; In Ap. ii, 1 4 1 ; Plutarch Mor. 353 f; Aelian Nat. Anim. x, 1 6 ; Anaxandrides apud Athenaeus Deipnos. vii, 300a; Sextus Empiricus I.e.; Origen Contra Cels. v, 34 and 41). At the time of Tiberius' measures against the Jews and the Isis-cult in Rome in A . D . 19 (note on 159 ZYJIOCVO*;), quorundem animalium abstinentia was re garded as evidence of adherence to one of the proscribed sects (Sen. Ep. cviii, 22); for discussion see the present writer in Latomus xv (1956), 320. TO (xeTplox; [xeiStaaat . . . . &a
