Herod the Tetrarch Banished

Herodias, Agrippa’s sister, who was now living as the wife of the Herod who was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, looked on her brother’s new authority with envy, above all when she saw that he had been given a higher rank than her husband. When he ran away, it had been because he could not pay his debts; and now he had come back in rank and great good fortune. So she was grieved and much displeased at so great a change in his affairs. Most of all, when she saw him going about among the crowds with the usual marks of royal authority, she could not hide how miserable her envy made her. She stirred up her husband and urged him to sail to Rome and seek honors equal to Agrippa’s. She said she could not bear to live any longer while Agrippa — the son of that Aristobulus whom his father had condemned to death, a man who had come to her husband in such extreme poverty that the necessities of life had to be supplied to him entirely, day by day, and who had fled from his creditors by sea — now came back a king; while her husband, himself the son of a king, whose near relation to royal authority called on him to win the same rank, sat still and was content with a private life. “Come, Herod: even if in the past you did not mind being in a lower position than your father, from whom you are descended, now at least seek the rank your kinsman has reached. Do not put up with this contempt, that a man who once admired your wealth should be held in greater honor than you; do not let his poverty prove able to buy greater things than our abundance. Do not think it anything but shameful to be inferior to a man who only the other day lived on your charity. Let us go to Rome, and let us spare no effort and no expense, whether of silver or of gold, since they can be kept for no better use than to obtain a kingdom.” [a]

Herod, for his part, resisted her request at this time, out of love of ease and because he suspected the trouble he would have at Rome, and he tried to talk her into a better mind. But the more she saw him draw back, the more she pressed him, and urged him to leave no stone unturned in order to be king. In the end she would not let up until she had brought him round to her view, whether he would or not, since he had no other way of escaping her persistence. So he got everything ready as lavishly as he could, sparing no expense, and went up to Rome, taking Herodias with him. But when Agrippa learned of their intentions and their preparations, he too prepared to go there. As soon as he heard they had set sail, he sent Fortunatus, one of his freedmen, to Rome, to carry presents to the emperor and letters against Herod, and to give Gaius a full account of these matters if he had the opportunity. This man followed so close on Herod’s heels, had so fortunate a voyage, and arrived so soon after him, that while Herod was with Gaius he came himself and delivered his letters. Both of them had sailed to Dicaearchia, and they found Gaius at Baiae, a small city of Campania about five-eighths of a mile from Dicaearchia. There are royal palaces there with lavish apartments, each emperor striving to outdo the magnificence of the one before him. The place also has warm baths that spring out of the ground of their own accord, which help restore the health of those who use them, and serve men’s luxury besides. Gaius greeted Herod, whom he met first, and then looked at the letters Agrippa had sent him, which were written to accuse Herod. In them Agrippa charged that Herod had been in league with Sejanus against Tiberius, and that he was now in league with Artabanus, the king of Parthia, against the government of Gaius. As proof of this he alleged that Herod had armor ready in his armory for seventy thousand men. Gaius was stirred by this information and asked Herod whether what was said about the armor was true. When Herod admitted that the armor was there — for he could not deny it, the truth being too well known — Gaius took that as sufficient proof of the charge that he intended to revolt. So he took his tetrarchy away from him and added it to Agrippa’s kingdom. He also gave Herod’s money to Agrippa, and as a punishment sentenced him to banishment for life, appointing Lyon, a city of Gaul, as the place where he was to live. But when Gaius was told that Herodias was Agrippa’s sister, he made her a present of the money that was her own, and told her that it was her brother who had kept her from falling into the same disaster as her husband. She gave this answer: “You indeed, emperor, act generously and as becomes you in what you offer me. But the love I have for my husband keeps me from accepting the favor of your gift. For it is not right that I, who have been made a partner in his prosperity, should abandon him in his misfortune.” At this Gaius was angry with her, and he sent her into banishment with Herod and gave her property to Agrippa. So God punished Herodias for her envy of her brother, and Herod too for listening to a woman’s empty talk. [c]

Now in the first and second years of his reign Gaius managed public affairs with great nobility of mind, and conducted himself with such moderation that he won the goodwill of the Romans themselves and of his other subjects. But in the course of time he went beyond the bounds of human nature in his conceit of himself. Because of the vastness of his dominions he made himself a god, and took it upon himself to act in all things as an affront to the Deity itself.