During their troubles the Jews had not been allowed to complain to the emperor, or to send an embassy to Rome to make known their grievances.  But the Jewish King Agrippa, who was on his way from Rome to his kingdom, forwarded to Caligula the complaints of his countrymen, the Jews, with an account of the rebellious state of Alexandria.  The riots, it is true, had been wholly raised by the prefect’s zeal in setting up the emperor’s statue in the synagogues to be worshipped by the Jews, and in carrying into effect the emperor’s decree; but, as he had not been able to keep his province quiet, it was necessary that he should be recalled, and punished for his want of success.  To have found it necessary to call out the troops was of course a fault in a governor; but doubly so at a time and in a province where a successful general might so easily become a formidable rebel.  Accordingly, a centurion, with a trusty cohort of soldiers, was sent from Rome for the recall of the prefect.  On approaching the flat coast of Egypt, they kept the vessel in deep water till sunset, and then entered the harbour of Alexandria in the dark.  The centurion, on landing, met with a freedman of the emperor, from whom he learned that the prefect was then at supper, entertaining a large company of friends.  The freedman led the cohort quietly into the palace, into the very room where Flaccus was sitting at table; and the first tidings that he heard of his government being disapproved of in Rome was his finding himself a prisoner in his own palace.  The friends stood motionless with surprise, the centurion produced the emperor’s order for what he was doing, and as no resistance was attempted all passed off quietly; Flaccus was hurried on board the vessel then at anchor in the harbour on the same evening and immediately taken to Rome.

It so happened that on the night that Flaccus was seized, the Jews had met together to celebrate their autumnal feast, the feast of the Tabernacles:  not as in former years with joy and pomp, but in fear, in grief, and in prayer.  Their chief men were in prison, their nation smarting under its wrongs and in daily fear of fresh cruelties; and it was not without alarm that they heard the noise of soldiers moving to and fro through the city, and the heavy tread of the guards marching by torchlight from the camp to the palace.  But their fear was soon turned into joy when they heard that Flaccus, the author of all their wrongs, was already a prisoner on board the vessel in the harbour; and they gave glory to God, not, says Philo, that their enemy was going to be punished, but because their own sufferings were at an end.