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my word to you was; But since Caesar has commanded, it is absolutely necessary to fulfill his decrees. Having said these things, he arrived at Tiberias, to observe what the opinion of the Jews was. And many tens of thousands met him, supplicating him not to put them under compulsion nor to defile the city with a statue. And Petronius said, "Will you therefore make war?" And they said, "We will not make war," "but we will die rather than transgress our ancestral laws," and they offered themselves to be slaughtered. And this was done for forty 2.29 days. But Aristobulus, the brother of Agrippa, and others of the elite begged Petronius not to provoke the multitude to any desperation, but to write to Gaius about their intractable opposition to the reception of the statue; for perhaps, being softened, he might desist from what had been decreed. But if he should still persist in his vote, then he himself should take up the matter. And Petronius, being persuaded, wrote to Gaius about the affair. But Agrippa the king, while staying in Rome, was advancing in his friendship with Gaius. And being admired while dining with the emperor on account of his lavishness and magnificence, he was urged to ask for whatever was his desire. And he said, "I will ask of you none of the things that produce wealth, but what would be for you a reputation of piety and for me a good name. For I ask you to abandon, for my sake, the dedication of the statue, which you are ordering Petronius to make in the temple of the Jews." And Gaius, ashamed to seem to be lying before so many witnesses, consented. And he writes to Petronius, if he had already managed to set up the statue, not to take it down, but if the dedication has not yet been made, not to attempt to make it any longer; "for I no longer wish this to be set up, on account of Agrippa, a man honored by me." Gaius, therefore, writes these things to Petronius before he had read his letters showing that the Jews were hastening toward revolt on account of the statue. But being greatly distressed by these things, he writes to Petronius, "Since the gifts of the Jews have been of greater account to you than my commands, you consider what must be done about your own affairs. For I shall make you an 2.30 example to those both now and hereafter not to invalidate the commands of an emperor." Petronius did not manage to receive this letter while Gaius was living, but first he received the letters concerning his death, and thus those from Gaius to him. Gaius, therefore, having become most wicked, perished, having been killed by a conspiracy. The manner of the conspiracy against him, and by whom he was killed, the narrative will relate when it recounts the matters concerning the emperors. And when he was already dead, Claudius, who was hiding out of fear, is brought out by the soldiers and is proclaimed emperor, Agrippa also having eagerly contributed much to his proclamation. And as soon as the sole rule was confirmed for him, he both ratified the rule for Agrippa and spoke of him with praises, and he made an addition for him of all that Herod the king, his grandfather, had ruled. And he also asked from Claudius the kingdom of Chalcis for his brother Herod; and it was given to him by Caesar. At this time the Jews there were in sedition against the Alexandrians. For in the manner that has been told, with Gaius being ill-disposed toward them, they were being mistreated during his sole rule by the Greeks in the city, but when Gaius died they took courage and were in arms. And Claudius wrote to the cavalry commander in Egypt to put down the sedition, and he also sent a decree at the request of the two kings, Agrippa and Herod, to Syria and to Alexandria and to the rest of the inhabited world that was subject to the Romans, stating that "since the Jews from of old 2.31 were deemed worthy of equal citizenship with the Alexandrians and with the citizens of the other cities, Gaius out of madness because the nation of the Jews did not endure to address him as a god, humiliated them. But I order that the nation fall away from none of its ancient rights on account of his derangement, and that their former rights be preserved for them according to the Jewish customs

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ην πρός με ὑμῖν ὁ λόγος· Καίσαρος δὲ κελεύσαντος πᾶσα ἀνάγκη τὰ ἐκείνῳ δεδογμένα πληροῦν. ταῦτα εἰπὼν ἐπὶ Τιβεριάδα ἀφίκετο, κατανοήσων ὡς γνώμης εχουσιν ̓Ιουδαῖοι. καὶ πολλαὶ μυριάδες συνήντων αὐτῷ ἱκετεύουσαι μὴ εἰς ἀνάγκας αὐτοὺς καθιστᾶν μηδὲ μιαίνειν ἀνδριάντι τὴν πόλιν. καὶ ὁ Πετρώνιος εφη "πολεμήσετε αρα;" οἱ δ' "οὐ πολεμήσομεν" εφασαν, "τεθνηξόμεθα δὲ πρότερον η παραβῆναι τὰ πάτρια," καὶ παρεῖχον ἑαυτοὺς ἀποσφάττεσθαι. καὶ ταῦτα ἐφ' ἡμέρας ἐπράτ2.29 τετο τεσσαράκοντα. ̓Αριστόβουλος δὲ ὁ ̓Αγρίππου ἀδελφὸς καὶ αλλοι τῶν ἐκκρίτων ἐδέοντο Πετρωνίου μηδὲν εἰς ἀπόνοιαν τὸ πλῆθος παρακινεῖν, ἀλλὰ γράφειν πρὸς Γάιον τὸ ἀνήκεστον αὐτῶν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἀνδριάντος ὑποδοχήν· ισως γὰρ μαλαχθέντα αὐτὸν ἀποστῆναι τοῦ δόξαντος· εἰ δ' ἐμμένοι καὶ αυθις τῇ ψήφῳ, τότε καὶ αὐτὸν τοῦ πράγματος απτεσθαι. Πετρώνιος δὲ πεισθεὶς ἐπέστειλε τῷ Γαΐῳ περὶ τῆς πράξεως. ̓Αγρίππας δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν ̔Ρώμῃ διάγων προέκοπτε τῇ πρὸς Γάιον οἰκειώσει. θαυμασθείς τε ἐν τῷ δειπνίζειν τὸν αὐτοκράτορα τῆς πολυτελείας χάριν καὶ τοῦ μεγαλοπρεποῦς, αἰτήσασθαι προετρέπετο ο αν αὐτῷ πρὸς βουλῆς. ὁ δέ "αἰτήσομαί σε" εφη "τῶν μὲν ολβον περιποιούντων οὐδέν, ο δ' αν σοί τε πρὸς δόξαν εὐσεβείας κἀμοὶ πρὸς ευκλειαν γένηται. ἀξιῶ σε γὰρ τὴν τοῦ ἀνδριάντος ἀνάθεσιν, ην ποιήσασθαι κελεύεις Πετρώνιον εἰς τὸ ̓Ιουδαίων ἱερόν, δι' ἐμὲ καταλείψειν." Γάιος δὲ αἰσχυνθεὶς ἐπὶ τοσῶνδε μαρτύρων δόξαι ψευδόμενος, συνεχώρει. καὶ γράφει πρὸς τὸν Πετρώνιον, εἰ μὲν ηδη τὸν ἀνδριάντα εφθασε στῆσαι, μὴ καθελεῖν, εἰ δὲ μήπω πεποίηται τὴν ἀνάθεσιν, μηκέτι πειρᾶσθαι ποιήσασθαι· "οὐ γὰρ ετι τοῦτον βούλομαι στῆναι, διὰ τὸν ̓Αγρίππαν, ανδρα τιμώμενον παρ' ἐμοί." Γάιος μὲν ουν ταῦτα πρὸς Πετρώνιον γράφει πρὶν ἐντυχεῖν ταῖς ἐκείνου ἐπιστολαῖς ἐμφαινούσαις πρὸς ἀποστασίαν τοὺς ̓Ιουδαίους διὰ τὸν ἀνδριάντα ἐπείγεσθαι· περιαλγήσας δὲ διὰ ταῦτα γράφει τῷ Πετρωνίῳ " ̓Επεί σοι τὰ τῶν ̓Ιουδαίων δῶρα ἐν μείζονι γεγόνασι λόγῳ τῶν ἐμῶν ἐντολῶν, σὺ περὶ τῶν σεαυτοῦ τὸ ποιητέον συλλόγισαι. παράδειγμα γάρ σε 2.30 ποιήσομαι τοῖς τε νῦν καὶ τοῖς επειτα μὴ ἀκυροῦν ἐντολὰς αὐτοκράτορος." ταύτην τὴν ἐπιστολὴν οὐκ εφθη ζῶντος Γαΐου δεδεγμένος Πετρώνιος, ἀλλὰ πρότερον τὰ περὶ τῆς ἐκείνου τελευτῆς ἐδέξατο γράμματα, καὶ ουτω τὰ πρὸς αὐτὸν τοῦ Γαΐου. ̔Ο μὲν ουν Γάιος κάκιστος γεγονὼς ωλετο ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς ἀνῃρημένος· τὸν δὲ τρόπον τῆς κατ' ἐκείνου ἐπιβουλῆς, καὶ παρὰ τίνων ἀνῄρηται, οτε τὰ περὶ τῶν αὐτοκρατόρων ὁ λόγος διέξεισι διηγήσεται. ηδη δὲ φθαρέντος, Κλαύδιος κρυπτόμενος διὰ φόβον ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐξάγεται καὶ αὐτοκράτωρ ἀνακηρύττεται, πολλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀνάρρησιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ ̓Αγρίππα σπουδάσαντος. αρτι δὲ βεβαιωθείσης τῆς αὐταρχίας αὐτῷ, τήν τε ἀρχὴν ἐκύρωσε τῷ ̓Αγρίππᾳ καὶ δι' ἐγκωμίων ἐποιεῖτο αὐτόν, προσθήκην τε αὐτῷ εθετο πᾶσαν ης ηρξεν ̔Ηρώδης ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ πάππος αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ καὶ τῷ ἀδελφῷ ̔Ηρώδῃ τὴν βασιλείαν Χαλκίδος παρὰ Κλαυδίου ᾐτήσατο· καὶ ἐδόθη ἐκείνῳ παρὰ τοῦ Καίσαρος. Κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον στασιάζουσιν πρὸς τοὺς ̓Αλεξανδρεῖς οἱ ἐκεῖ ̓Ιουδαῖοι. ον γὰρ ειρηται τρόπον κακῶς πρὸς αὐτοὺς Γαΐου διατεθέντος, ἐκακοῦντο μοναρχοῦντος ἐκείνου παρὰ τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει ̔Ελλήνων, Γαΐου δὲ τελευτήσαντος ἀνεθάρσησαν καὶ ησαν ἐν οπλοις. Κλαύδιος δὲ τῷ ἱππαρχοῦντι κατὰ τὴν Αιγυπτον ἐπέστειλε καταστεῖλαι τὴν στάσιν, επεμψε δὲ καὶ διάταγμα ἐκ παρακλήσεως τοῖν βασιλέοιν ̓Αγρίππου τε καὶ ̔Ηρώδου εἰς Συρίαν καὶ εἰς ̓Αλεξάνδρειαν καὶ εἰς τὴν αλλην οἰκουμένην οση ̔Ρωμαίοις ὑπήκοος, φράζον οτι "τῶν ̓Ιουδαίων ἀνέκαθεν 2.31 ισης πολιτείας τοῖς ̓Αλεξανδρεῦσι καὶ τοῖς τῶν λοιπῶν πόλεων πολίταις ἀξιωθέντων, ὁ Γάιος ἐξ ἀπονοίας οτι μὴ θεὸν προσαγορεύειν αὐτὸν τὸ ̓Ιουδαίων εθνος ἠνέσχετο αὐτοὺς ἐταπείνωσεν. ἐγὼ δὲ μηδενὸς διὰ τὴν ἐκείνου παραφροσύνην τῶν παλαιῶν δικαίων τὸ εθνος ἐκπεσεῖν διατάττομαι, συντηρεῖσθαι δὲ σφίσι τὰ πρότερον δίκαια τοῖς ̓Ιουδαίων νομίμοις