The Sicarii and the Egyptian

As for the insolence with which Nero abused his fortune, once the excess of his prosperity and wealth had turned his head; the way he made away with his brother, his wife and his mother, and from them turned his cruelty on the noblest men; and how at last, in his madness, he ran himself aground on the stage and the theater — all this I will pass over, since everyone has had more than enough of it. I will turn instead to what happened to the Jews in his time. [a]

Nero gave the kingdom of Lesser Armenia to Aristobulus, the son of Herod, and added four cities to Agrippa’s kingdom, with their districts: Abila and Julias in Perea, and Tarichea and Tiberias in Galilee. Over the rest of Judea he appointed Felix procurator. Felix captured Eleazar the robber chief alive, a man who had plundered the country for twenty years, together with many of his men, and sent them to Rome. As for the robbers he crucified, and the common people he convicted of being in league with them and punished, their number was beyond counting. [c]

Once the countryside had been cleared of them, a new kind of robber sprang up in Jerusalem, the so-called sicarii, who murdered people in broad daylight in the middle of the city. They did it above all at the festivals. Mingling with the crowd, with small daggers hidden under their clothes, they stabbed their enemies; then, when the victims fell, the murderers themselves joined in the cries of indignation, and because they seemed so trustworthy they could never be found out. The first to have his throat cut by them was Jonathan the high priest, and after him many were killed every day. The fear was worse than the disasters themselves, for every man expected death at any hour, as in war. People kept watch on their enemies from far off, and could not trust even their friends when they approached; yet even in the midst of their suspicions and their guard they were murdered, so swift were the plotters and so skilled at going unseen. [f]

Besides these, another band of villains formed, cleaner in their hands but more impious in their intentions, who ruined the city’s happiness no less than the murderers did. They were deceivers and impostors who, under the pretense of divine inspiration, worked for revolution and upheaval. They persuaded the multitude to act like men possessed, and led them out into the wilderness, saying that God would show them there the signs of their liberty. Felix took this for the first step toward revolt, and sent cavalry and heavy infantry against them, who killed a great number. The Egyptian false prophet did the Jews still greater harm. This man was an impostor who came into the country, gave himself out to be a prophet, and gathered about thirty thousand dupes. He led them around from the wilderness to the hill called the Mount of Olives, and from there he was ready to force his way into Jerusalem, overpower the Roman garrison and the people, and rule as a tyrant, with those who burst in alongside him as his bodyguard. But Felix forestalled his attack by meeting him with the Roman heavy infantry, and all the people joined in the defense. When battle was joined, the Egyptian fled with a few followers; most of his men were killed or taken alive, and the rest of the crowd scattered, each slipping away to his own home. [g]

When these too had been put down, then, as in a sick body, another part became inflamed. The impostors and the robbers joined forces and drove many to revolt, urging them on to liberty. They threatened death to anyone who submitted to Roman rule, and said they would use force on those who chose slavery of their own will. Splitting into bands throughout the country, they plundered the houses of the powerful, killed the owners, and set the villages on fire, until all Judea was filled with their frenzy. And so this war was fanned higher every day. [h]

Another disturbance arose at Caesarea, where the Jews who lived mixed among the Syrians quarreled with them. The Jews claimed the city was theirs, because its founder, King Herod, was a Jew. The others admitted the founder was a Jew, but said the city itself belonged to the Greeks, since a man who set up statues and temples in it could not have meant it for Jews. Both sides disputed over this, and their rivalry went as far as arms. Every day the rasher men on both sides sprang out to fight, for the Jewish elders could not restrain their own partisans, and the Greeks thought it a disgrace to be beaten by Jews. The Jews had the advantage in wealth and bodily strength, the Greeks in the support of the soldiers, for most of the Roman force there had been levied in Syria, and its men stood ready to help them like kinsmen. The officers took care to check the disorder: they kept arresting the most combative and punishing them with whips and chains. But the sufferings of those arrested did not hold back or frighten the rest; they were provoked all the more to strife. Once, when the Jews were winning, Felix came into the marketplace and ordered them with threats to withdraw. When they would not obey, he sent his soldiers against them and killed many, and their property was plundered as well. As the strife went on, he chose the leading men of both sides and sent them as envoys to Nero, to argue their rights before him.