the Jews as the meanest of their slaves.  During the Macedonian ascendancy[494] King Antiochus[495] endeavoured to abolish their superstitions and to introduce Greek manners and customs.  But Arsaces at that moment rebelled,[496] and the Parthian war prevented him from effecting any improvement in the character of this grim people.  Then, when Macedon waned, as the Parthian power was not yet ripe and Rome was still far away, they took kings of their own.[497] The mob were fickle and drove them out.  However, they recovered their throne by force; banished their countrymen, sacked cities, slew their brothers, wives, and parents, and committed all the usual kingly crimes.  But this only fostered the hold of the Jewish religion, since the kings had strengthened their authority by assuming the priesthood.

Cnaeus Pompeius was the first Roman to subdue the Jews and set foot 9 in their temple by right of conquest.[498] It was then first realized that the temple contained no image of any god:  their sanctuary was empty, their mysteries meaningless.  The walls of Jerusalem were destroyed, but the temple was left standing.  Later, during the Roman civil wars, when the eastern provinces had come under the control of Mark Antony, the Parthian Prince Pacorus seized Judaea,[499] and was killed by Publius Ventidius.  The Parthians were driven back over the Euphrates, and Caius Sosius[500] subdued the Jews.  Antony gave the kingdom to Herod,[501] and Augustus, after his victory, enlarged it.  After Herod’s death, somebody called Simon,[502] without awaiting the emperor’s decision, forcibly assumed the title of king.  He was executed by Quintilius Varus, who was Governor of Syria; the Jews were repressed and the kingdom divided between three of Herod’s sons.[503] Under Tiberius all was quiet.  Caligula ordered them to put up his statue in the temple.  They preferred war to that.  But Caligula’s death put an end to the rising.[504] In Claudius’ reign the kings had all either died or lost most of their territory.  The emperor therefore made Judaea a province to be governed by Roman knights or freedmen.  One of these, Antonius Felix,[505] indulged in every kind of cruelty and immorality, wielding a king’s authority with all the instincts of a slave.  He had married Drusilla, a granddaughter of Antony and Cleopatra, so that he was Antony’s grandson-in-law, while Claudius was Antony’s grandson.[506]

The Jews endured such oppression patiently until the time of 10 Gessius Florus,[507] under whom war broke out.  Cestius Gallus, the Governor of Syria, tried to crush it, but met with more reverses than victories.  He died, either in the natural course or perhaps of disgust, and Nero sent out Vespasian, who, in a couple of campaigns,[508] thanks to his reputation, good fortune, and able subordinates, had the whole of the country districts and all the towns except Jerusalem under the heel of his victorious army.  The next year[509] was taken up with civil war, and passed quietly enough as far as the Jews were concerned.  But peace once restored in Italy, foreign troubles began again with feelings embittered on our side by the thought that the Jews were the only people who had not given in.  At the same time it seemed best to leave Titus at the head of the army to meet the eventualities of the new reign, whether good or bad.