The Character of King Agrippa

Silas, the king’s commander, had been faithful to him through every turn of fortune. He had never refused to share any danger with him, and had often undertaken the most perilous tasks for him. So he was full of self-confidence, and supposed that the firmness of his friendship entitled him to equal honor with the king. He would never take a lower place than the king at table, and he spoke his mind freely in every conversation. In their friendly hours he became tiresome, praising himself beyond measure and often reminding the king of the grim times he had been through, in order to show off the zeal he himself had shown then. He was forever going over at length how hard he had worked for him. The constant repetition of these things seemed like a reproach, and so the king took the man’s unrestrained frankness badly. For the memory of times of disgrace is never pleasant, and the man who is always bringing up the good he once did is a fool. At last Silas so thoroughly provoked the king’s anger that he gave way to passion rather than reason. He not only removed Silas from his command but handed him over to be kept in chains, and sent him away to his own country. In time, however, the edge of his anger wore off, and he left his judgment about the man to clearer reasoning, considering how many hardships Silas had endured for his sake. So when he was celebrating his birthday, and festivities were held for all his subjects, he suddenly sent for Silas to be his guest at table. But Silas, who was a man of independent spirit, thought he now had just cause for anger, and he did not hide it from those who came for him. He said, “To what kind of honor does the king invite me—one that will soon be gone? He did not even keep for me the first rewards of my goodwill toward him; he stripped me of them, and insulted me besides. Or does he think I have stopped speaking my mind? With a conscience like mine I will shout all the louder how many dangers I freed him from, how many hardships I bore to win him safety and honor—and for which my reward was chains and a dark prison. I will never forget this. Perhaps even my soul, when it leaves the flesh, will take with it the memory of my brave deeds.” That is what he shouted, and he told them to repeat it to the king. When the king saw that he was incurable, he left him in custody again. [a]

Agrippa strengthened the walls of Jerusalem that faced the new city at public expense, making them broader and raising them higher. He would have made them too strong for any human force, if Marsus, the governor of Syria, had not informed Claudius Caesar by letter of what was being done. Claudius suspected some revolutionary design and wrote to Agrippa to stop building the walls at once, and he decided not to disobey. [b]

This king was by nature generous in his gifts and ambitious to show magnificence toward whole peoples. By many great expenditures he raised himself to fame, taking pleasure in giving and delighting in living with a good name. In character he was nothing like Herod, the king before him. Herod had an evil disposition, harsh in punishing and merciless toward those he hated, and he was admittedly more friendly to Greeks than to Jews. He adorned the cities of foreigners with gifts of money and with the building of baths and theaters; in some he set up temples, in others colonnades. But he did not think any Jewish city worthy of even a small repair, or of a gift worth mentioning. Agrippa, on the other hand, had a gentle temper and was equally generous to all. He was kind to foreigners and showed them his generosity too; but to his own countrymen he was kind in proportion, and more compassionate. He loved to live in Jerusalem, and stayed there constantly, and he kept the customs of his fathers scrupulously. He kept himself in complete purity, and no day passed for him without its lawful sacrifice. [d]

Now there was a certain man of Jerusalem, a native, who was reputed to be very exact in the law; his name was Simon. While the king was away at Caesarea, this man gathered the people into an assembly and dared to denounce the king as unholy, saying that he ought rightly to be kept out of the temple, since entry belonged to those of native birth. The commander of the city informed the king by letter that Simon had made this speech to the people. The king sent for him, and since he was sitting in the theater at the time, he told him to sit down beside him, and said to him quietly and gently, “Tell me, what is done here that is against the law?” Simon had nothing to say, and begged his pardon. The king was reconciled to him more readily than anyone would have expected, judging gentleness a more kingly quality than anger, and knowing that consideration suits great men better than passion. So he even gave Simon a gift, and sent him away. [e]

Agrippa built a great deal in many places, but he honored the people of Berytus above the rest. He built them a theater surpassing many others in costliness and beauty, and an amphitheater at great expense, and besides these, baths and colonnades. In none of these works did he spoil either the beauty or the size by sparing expense. He celebrated their dedication magnificently too. In the theater he put on shows, bringing in every kind of music and everything that gives varied delight; in the amphitheater he displayed his magnificence by the number of his gladiators. There, wanting the spectators to enjoy a battle of whole bodies of men, he sent in seven hundred men to fight against seven hundred. He set apart for this all the criminals he had, so that they would be punished and the work of war would become an entertainment in peacetime. In this way he destroyed them all together. [f]