Josephus I. The Life. Against Apion (Loeb Classical Library 186)

447 Pages·1926·0.7 MB·English

by  Josephus

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
EDITED DY
E. CAPPS. T. E. PAGE,
PH.D., LL.D. LlTI'D.
W. H. D. ROUSE, U'!'. ... n.
JOSEPI-IUS
I
J,OSEPHUS
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
H. ST. J. THACKERAY, M.A.
HON. D.D. OXFORD, HON. D.D. DU1I11A)J
IN EIGHT VOLUMES
1
THE LIFE AGAINST APION
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
MmIXXYI
Prillttd 111 Gre«t Britol~lI.
CONTENTS
INTRODVCTION-
PAnE
Life. vii
The l'lajor \Yorks xi
The :Minol' Works xii
~lSS. Ilnd Authorities for the Text xvii
Recent Editions of the Greek Text and
other \Vorks XIX
Abbreviations xx
LIFE OF JOSEPHUS
AGAIlXST AplOlX 162
INDEX 1., GENERAL 4.J S
I I., BIlILICAL PASS.\GES 424
"
l\[AP OF GALILEE To fa(,e 412
v

INTRODUCTION
LIFE
THE autobiography which appears in this volume
renders unnecessary any detailed life of the author.
But, as that work mainly relates to a period of only
six months, and needs to be supplemented by other
notices which appeal' in the TVar or elsewhere, the
facts may here be briefly summarized.
Son of a priest and with royal blood in his veins
on the mother's side, Joseph ben Matthias was born
in the year of the accession of Gaius (Caligula)
A.D. 37-38. Pontius Pilate had been recalled from
J udaea in the previous year; Herod Agrippa I had
just received his liberty and kingdom from the new
Emperor. The lad's memory might perhaps recall
the scenes of excitement aroused in Palestine by the
attempt of Caligula to erect his statue in the Temple,
when the outbreak of war was narrowly avertcd
(A.D. 4.0--41). Of his education he tells us of his
precocious talents which, at the age of 11., brought
learned Rabbis to consult him; how at 16 he entered
on what may be called his short university course,
when he studied the tenets of the three national
sects; how he fonowed this up by three years of
ascetic life in the wilderness, and how, all returning
vii
I~TRODUOTIOX
to Jerusalem at the age of 19, he threw in his lot
with the Phari.,ees. Of his early manhood one out
standing eyent is related, his ,isit to Rome at the
age of 26 or 2i in the year 64. It was the year of
the burning of Rome and the persecution of the
Christians, but whether those events preceded his
arri\-al is unknown, and no inference Can be drawn
from his silence as to his attitude to Christianity. It
is idle to conjecture whether, beyond its' ostensible
ob j ect-the liberation of certain J e"ish priests
this ,isit to the capital had any ulterior motiye. It
impressed him, at any rate, "ith a sense of Rome's
hwincibility; and on his return to Judaea, where he
found his countrymen heading for reyolt, he yainly
endeavoured to pacify the war party. The turbulent
state of the country soon brought Cestius Gallus, the
Goyernor of Syria, upon the scene. His unaccount
able "ithdrawal from Jerusalem, when almost within
his grasp, was followed by the di.,astrous rout of his
Roman legions in the defiles of Bethhoron in the
autumn of 66. The irrevocable step had now been
taken and hasty preparations were made for the
impending war.
The young priest aged 29, on what qualifications
does not appear, was, with two others, entrusted with
an important commission in Galilee, if not the actual
command of the district. The opening scenes of the
Galilaean campaign in A.D. 66-6i, which fill most of
the pages of the [.ife, are difficult to follow, and the
policy and aims both of J os~phus and of the Jerusalem
leaders are far from clear., 'We have two accounts of
this period, both biased and in some details incon
sistent. In the Life we have the author's defence
against a rival Je"ish historian, who accused him and
,-iii
INTRODUCTION
the Galilaeans of being responsible for the revolt
(§ 340) ; in the Jetvish War we haye a shorter account
written under Roman patronage. In the TVar
Josephus is represented as having been appointed
general of Galilee from the first (B. ii. 5(8); in the
Life we are merely told that his commission was to
induce the hotheads to lay down their arms (Vita 29,
ep. 77). In a recent suggestive but rather fanciful
work (see p. xix below) Herr Laqueur lays stress
on this difference and supposes that Josephus acted
ultra vires in assuming' the supreme command of
Galilee, and that this accounts for the attempt of
John of Gischala to get him supersedec However that
may be, he was suspected of harbouring designs of
betraying the country to Rome. He may have hoped
to avert war by compromise, but events moved fast
and forced him to identify himself with the war
party. On the advance of Vespasian from Antioch
he finally resolved to stand a siege in the fortified town
of Jotapata. Of the forty-seven days' siege, the fan
of the town (July (7), his capture by the Romans after
a narrow escape from being murdered by his com
panions in hiding, and his prophecy of Yespasian's
rise to imperial power, he has given a graphic account
in the third book of the JeJVish TVat·.
Henceforth, in Roman hands, his life was tolerably
secure. Military operations were delayed dming
the eventful year 68-69, which saw the death of
Nero and, in rapid succession, the promotion of three
Emperors. In July 69 Vespasian's legions took the
law into their OWl) hands and proclaimed him
Emperor. One of the first acts of the new Emperor
was the liberation of Josephus whose prediction had
now come true. Accompanying Vespasian to Alex-
ix
IXTRODUCTIOX
andria, Josephus returned thence with Titus to the
siege of Jerusalem. Here his services as interpreter
and mediator were in constant requisition. He \vas
now, he tells us, between two fires: bitterly hated
by the Jews and suspected of treachery by the
Romans whenever they met with a reverse.
Of his life in Rome, after the fall of Jerusalem
(A.D. 70), and the various privileges bestowed on
him by the Fla\ian Emperors, he gives us a brief
sketch. Awarded the rights of Roman citizenship
and a lodging in the priuata aedes of Vespasian, he was
among the first to be placed on the "chil list"
instituted by that Emperor (V. 423; Suet. Vesp. 18).
He witnessed the triumph of Vespasian and Titus: and
must have seen the new Rome arising from the ashes
in which the fire under Nero and the civil war had
left it; the new buildings including the Colosseum,
the Fora of Vespasian and Titus and the Temple of
Peace. Still dogged by Jewish hatred, he, "ith
unfailing tact, succeeded in retaining the imperial
favour, even of Domitian, and eluding his foes. The
date of his death is unknown, but he outlived
Agrippa II (V. 359) who, according to Photius: died
in A.D. 100. From Eusebius (Hist. Eecl. iii. 9) we
learn that his statue was erected in Rome and his
works placed in the public library.
His domestic life had its matrimonial troubles.
He was married at least three times, being deserted
by one "ife and divorcing another (V. 415: 426 f.).
x