The Jewish War, Book 2
Gaius’s Statue and Petronius
Gaius Caesar carried his insolent abuse of fortune so far that he wished to be thought a god and to be called one. He cut down the noblest men of his country, and he extended his impiety to Judea as well. He sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem to set up his statues in the temple, with orders that if the Jews would not receive them, he was to kill those who resisted and enslave the whole rest of the nation. But these commands, as it turned out, were God’s concern. Petronius marched from Antioch into Judea with three legions and many allied troops from Syria. Some of the Jews disbelieved the reports of war, while those who believed them could see no way to defend themselves. Fear spread quickly through them all, for the army had already reached Ptolemais.
Ptolemais is a coastal city of Galilee, built in the great plain. It is ringed by mountains: on the east, about seven and a half miles away, by the hills of Galilee; on the south by Carmel, fifteen miles off; and on the north by the highest range of all, which the local people call the Ladder of the Tyrians, twelve and a half miles away. About a quarter of a mile from the city flows the very small river called the Belus. Beside it stands the monument of Memnon, and near this is a spot about 150 feet across that deserves wonder. It is round and hollow, and it yields the sand used for glass. When many ships have put in and emptied it, the place fills up again, for the winds, as if on purpose, sweep the ordinary sand from outside into it, and the pit at once turns all of it into glass. What seems to me even more wonderful is that any of the glass that spills over out of the place turns back into ordinary sand. Such is the nature of this spot.
The Jews gathered with their wives and children in the plain by Ptolemais and pleaded with Petronius, first for their ancestral laws, and then for themselves. He gave way to their numbers and their entreaties. Leaving the statues and the troops at Ptolemais, he went on into Galilee and summoned the people and all the men of note to Tiberias. There he set before them the power of the Romans and the threats of Caesar, and showed them how unreasonable their request was. All the subject nations, he said, had set up images of Caesar in their cities alongside their other gods; for them alone to oppose it was close to rebellion, and an insult besides.
They held up the law and the custom of their fathers, and said it was not lawful for them to set up an image even of God, still less of a man, not only in the temple but even in some ordinary corner of their country. Petronius answered, “But I too must keep the law of my master. If I break it and spare you, I will be justly put to death. It is the one who sent me, not I, who will make war on you; for I am under orders just as you are.”
At this the whole crowd shouted that they were ready to suffer for the law. Petronius quieted their shouting and said, “Will you go to war with Caesar, then?”
The Jews said that they offered sacrifice twice a day for Caesar and for the Roman people; but if he meant to set up the images, he would first have to sacrifice the whole Jewish nation, and they offered themselves, with their children and their wives, ready to be slaughtered. Petronius was filled with wonder and pity at the men’s unsurpassable devotion to their religion and their readiness to face death. For the time being they broke up with nothing settled.
On the days that followed he gathered the men of power in private and the people in public assembly. Sometimes he appealed to them, sometimes he advised them, but mostly he threatened, holding over them the might of the Romans, the fury of Gaius, and his own hard necessity besides. They yielded to no pressure, and he saw that the land was in danger of being left unsown, for it was the season for sowing and the people had spent fifty idle days with him. So at last he called them together and said, “It is better that I take the risk myself. Either, with God’s help, I will persuade Caesar and gladly come through safe together with you, or, if he is provoked, I will readily give up my life for so many.”
Then he dismissed the crowd, who called down many blessings on him, took the army from Ptolemais, and returned to Antioch. From there he at once wrote to Caesar about his expedition into Judea and the entreaties of the nation. Unless Caesar wished to lose the country along with its people, he wrote, he must let them keep their law and set his order aside. Gaius answered these letters none too mildly, threatening Petronius with death for being slow to carry out his commands. But the men carrying these letters happened to be storm-bound at sea for three months, while others bringing news of Gaius’s death had a good voyage. So Petronius received the letters bearing that news twenty-seven days before the ones against himself.