The Death of Agrippa

When Agrippa had finished what I have related at Berytus, he moved to Tiberias, a city of Galilee. He was much admired by other kings. Antiochus king of Commagene came to visit him, and Sampsigeramus king of Emesa, and Cotys, who was king of Lesser Armenia, and Polemo, who held the realm of Pontus, and Herod his brother, who ruled Chalcis. He entertained them all with receptions and courtesies in a way that showed the loftiness of his mind, and so that he would seem to deserve the honor of their visit. While these kings were still staying with him, Marsus the governor of Syria arrived. The king, to keep up the respect due to the Romans, went out nearly a mile from the city to meet him. But this was to prove the beginning of his quarrel with Marsus. For he brought the other kings along with him, seated beside him in his carriage, and Marsus grew suspicious of their agreement and of so great a friendship among them, since he did not consider such a meeting of minds among so many princes to be in the interest of the Romans. So he at once sent some of his associates to each of them, ordering them to go off to their own countries without delay. Agrippa took this very badly, and from then on he was at odds with Marsus. He also took the high priesthood from Matthias and appointed Elioneus son of Cithaerus high priest in his place. [a]

When Agrippa had completed three years as king of all Judea, he came to the city of Caesarea, which was formerly called Strato’s Tower. There he put on spectacles in honor of Caesar, knowing that this was a festival held for the emperor’s welfare. A great number of men in office and of high rank throughout the province had gathered for it. On the second day of the spectacles, he put on a robe made entirely of silver, of truly wonderful weave, and entered the theater at the beginning of the day. There the silver, lit up by the first rays of the sun, shone out wonderfully, glittering in a way that was frightening and made those who gazed at him shudder. At once his flatterers cried out from one place and another—words that did him no good—addressing him as a god. They added, “Be gracious to us! Until now we have revered you as a man, but from now on we acknowledge you as more than mortal.” The king did not rebuke them, nor did he reject their impious flattery. But shortly afterward he looked up and saw an owl perched on a rope above his head. He knew at once that this bird was a messenger of evil, as it had once been a messenger of good, and grief pierced him to the heart. A sudden pain also took hold of his belly, beginning with great violence. He sprang up and said to his friends, “I, your god, am now ordered to end my life, and fate at once refutes the lying words you just now spoke about me. I, whom you called immortal, am now being led away to die. But I must accept what is destined, as God has willed it. For we have lived in no mean way, but in a splendor that men counted blessed.” Even as he said this he was overcome by the increasing pain. So he was carried in haste into the palace, and word went around to everyone that he would certainly die within a short time. At once the people, with their wives and children, sat in sackcloth according to the law of their fathers and pleaded with God for the king. Every place was full of wailing and lamentation. The king lay in an upper room, and as he looked down on them falling on their faces, even he could not keep back his tears. After being worn down by the pain in his belly for five days on end, he died, in the fifty-fourth year of his life and the seventh of his reign. He had reigned four years under Gaius Caesar—three of them over Philip’s tetrarchy alone, while in the fourth he received Herod’s as well—and he reigned three more under the rule of Claudius Caesar, during which he was king over the lands already mentioned and received Judea besides, with Samaria and Caesarea. He drew the greatest possible revenue from them, twelve million in all; yet he also borrowed a great deal. For he was so generous that he spent more lavishly than his income, and there was no limit to his love of honor. [e]

Before the people knew that he had died, Herod the ruler of Chalcis and Helcias, the king’s commander and friend, agreed together and sent Ariston, a trusted servant, to kill Silas, who was their enemy, as though the king had ordered it. [i]