or three women of royal families. It is certain that Drusilla, a Jewess, sister of Agrippa the younger, was one of them. And if Tacitus was not mistaken, another of them was descended from Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, and Antony, and was called Drusilla. Who the third was, doth not appear that I know of. Tacitus says, that whilst Felix was procurator of Judea, he acted in a very arbitrary manner, and scrupled no kind of injustice. Josephus has recorded one instance of abominable villany he was guilty of. Jonathan the high' priest often admonished Felix to correct his administration; for that otherwise he himself was in danger of the ill-will of the people, since he had desired the emperor to make him procurator of Judea.' But he not being able to bear these frequent remonstrances, by a large sum of money corrupted an intimate friend of Jonathan's, who got him to be 'assassinated.' His government was so irregular, that the Jews followed him with complaints to Rome after he had left the province; and it was owing to a very powerful interest made for him at court, that he escaped the resentment of Nero. 6 All these above-mentioned particulars from Josephus and Tacitus, may satisfy us, that when, Acts xxiv. 25, " Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, [or chastity,] and judgment to come," his subjects were well chosen with respect to both his hearers; and that what St. Luke adds concerning Felix, that he, ver. 26, "hoped that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him," is no calumny. Some, indeed, may think it strange, that Felix should have had any hopes of receiving money from this prisoner, when it does not appear he had any estate; and he has intimated, that he was at times obliged to " labour, working with She is supposed by some learned men to be the daughter of Juba, king of Mauritania, by Cleopatra, daughter of M, Antony and Cleopatra; and to have died before Felix came into Judea. Vid. Joseph. p. 891. not. 6. et notas in Sueton. Claud. c. 28. E quibus Antonius Felix, per omnem sævitiam ac libidinem, jus regium servili ingenio exercuit. Tacit. Hist. lib. v. c. 9. At non frater ejus cognomento Felix pari moderatione agebat, jam pridem Judææ impositus, et cuncta malefacta sibi impune ratus, tanta potentia subnixo. Ann. lib. xii. c. 54. Εχων δε απεχθώς προς τον αρχιερέα τον Ιωναθην ὁ Φήλιξ, δια το πολλακις ὑπ ̓ αυτό νεθετεῖσθαι, περί το κρείτονως προιτασθαι των κατα την Ιεδαίαν πραγμάτων, μη και μεμψιν αυτός οφλοίη παρα τοις πλήθεσιν, αιτησάμενος εκείνον παρα τω Καίσαρος πεμφθηναι της Ιεδαίας επιτροπον, —και δη δια τοιαυτης αιτίας ὁ Φήλιξ τον πιςοτατον των Ιωναθε φιλων, πείθει, πολλα χρηματα δωσει υπισχνεμενος, κ. τ. λ. Ant. 20. c. 7. sect. 5. b Scelus est accipere ab reo: quanto magis ab accusatore? quanto etiam sceleratius ab utroque? Cicer. in Verr. lib. ii. n. 78. his hands" for a subsistence, 1 Cor. iv. 12. Acts xx. 34. But in answer to this, it has been observed by expositors, that Paul had told Felix, that " after many years" "he came to bring alms to his nation and offerings," Acts xxiv. 17. It is likely, therefore, that Felix imagined that the money had not been all distributed as yet, since Paul was apprehended within a few days after his coming to Jerusalem, ch. xxi. 27. xxiv. 11; or, at least, concluded he must needs be a person of some consequence, and have good friends. IX. St. Luke says, Acts xxv. 13," And after certain days, king Agrippa and Bernice came to Cæsarea to salute Festus." This Agrippa is the son of Herod Agrippa above mentioned. St. Luke calls him king, as Josephus also does very often.d But St. Luke does not suppose him to be king of Judea; for all the judicial proceedings in that country, relating to Paul, are transacted before Felix, and this Festus his successor. Besides, he says here, that " Agrippa came to Cæsarea to salute Festus ;" that is, to pay his respects to him, and compliment him upon his arrival in the province. See Acts xxv. 1. 66 6 When his father was dead, Claudius intended at first to have put him immediately in possession of his father's dominions; but Agrippa being then but seventeen years of age, the emperor was persuaded to alter his mind, and appointed Cuspius Fadus prefect of Judea, and the whole kingdom.'e Which Fadus was succeeded by Tiberius Alexander, Cumanus, Felix, Festus ; though these did not possess the province in the same extent that Fadus did. 6 6 Agrippa therefore was disappointed of his father's kingdom; but he had by this time got considerable territories. Herod, brother of king Agrippa the great, died in the eighth year of the reign of Claudius Cæsar.-Claudius then gave his government to Agrippa the younger.'s This is our Agrippa we are now speaking of. 6 Ꮒ The twelfth year of his reign being completed, he [Claudius] gave Agrippa the tetrarchy of Philip, and Batanea, adding also Trachonitis with Abila. This had been the tetrarchy of Lysanias. But he took away from him Chalcis, after he had governed it four years.' This from his Antiquities. In the war of the Jews, Josephus expresseth it thus: After this he sent Felix the brother of Pallas to be procurator of Judea, Galilee, Samaria, and Persa; and promoted Agrippa from Chalcis to a greater d Ant. xx. 1. viii. sect. 6. et. passim. f Ant. xx. de Bell. lib. ii. 890. v. 25, &c. e Ant. xix. c. ix. fin. Jos. Ant. xx. p. 887. in. h Ibid. p. 6 6 kingdom, giving to him the tetrarchy which had been Philip's. (This is Batanea and Trachonitis, and Gaulanitis.) And he added moreover the kingdom of Lysanias, and the province that had been Varus's.'i Nero, in the first year of his reign, gave Agrippa a certain part of Galilee, ordering Tiberias and Taricheas to be subject to him. He gave him also Julias a city of Peræa, and fourteen towns in the neighbourhood of it." St. Luke therefore is in the right in giving Agrippa the title of king at this time. 66 The reader has, doubtless, observed, that when Paul was before Agrippa, he addressed himself to him as a Jew. Acts xxvi. 2, 3. “I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee.--Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Ver. 27. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest." From what hath been alleged, relating to Herod Agrippa, it is plain he was a zealous Jew, or at least appeared so at Jerusalem, and had educated all his children in the Jewish religion. This Agrippa, his son, undoubtedly maintained the same profession: and now he had, by the permission of the emperor, the direction of the sacred treasury, the government of the temple, and the right of nominating the high priests.' No wonder, therefore, that St. Paul told Agrippa, "he knew him to be expert in all customs and questions which were among the Jews." i De B. lib. ii. c. xii. fin. k Ant. xx. c. vii. sect. 4. I Josephus indeed says, Antiq. 1. xx. c. 1. sect. 3. that Herod [King of Chalcis, brother of Agrippa the Great] did, upon the death of his brother, request of Claudius Cæsar the power of the temple and of the sacred money, and the right of nominating the high priest, and that he obtained all these privileges: and that from him this power continued to all his descendants, till the end of the war. Ητησατο δε και Ηρωδης, ο αδελφος μεν Αγριππε το τετελευτηκότος, Χαλκίδος δε την αρχην κατα τον χρόνον εκεινον πεπιτευμενος, Κλαύδιον Καισαρα την εξεσίαν τε νεω, και των ιερών χρηματων, και την των αρχιερέων χειροτονίαν, παντων τε επετυχεν' εξ εκείνε τε πασι τους απογόνοις αυτό παρέμεινεν ή εξωσία μέχρι της τε πολεμε τελευτης. But either there is some error here in the copies of Josephus, or else we do not understand him right. For none of the sons of Herod of Chalcis did nominate any high priests. But according to Josephus's own account, all the changes in the priesthood, after the death of the said Herod, [which happened in the 8th of Claudius,] to the time of the war, were made by Agrippa the younger, nephew of this Herod, king of Chalcis. See Ant. xx. c. vii. sect. 11. c. viii. sect. 1. And when the people of Jerusalem had a mind to apply the sacred money to any particular purpose, they addressed to Agrippa; and he gave the directions. Ibid. sect. 7. And Josephus says expressly, that the king [Agrippa] had been entrusted with the care or government of the temple, by Claudius Cæsar. Ο βασιλευς δε, επεπίτευτο γαρ ύπο Κλαύδιο Καισαρος την επιμέλειαν τε ιερω, κ. λ. ibid. X. Bernice was a lady well known in those times. There are several reflections made upon her conduct by Josephus,m as well as other writers." But as St. Luke says nothing of her, beside her making a visit to Festus with Agrippa; and it has been shown already who she was, namely, the daughter of Herod Agrippa, and the sister of Agrippa the younger, I am not bound to add any farther concerning her. I shall only say, the respect which Titus Vespasian showed her, gave occasion for much discourse; and that she had once hopes of being empress, but the murmurs of the people of Rome prevented it. XI. There are but two things more I shall take notice of in this chapter. They may be judged by some, too minute to be insisted on; but they appear to me instances of great exactness and propriety, and to afford a strong proof, that St. Luke was perfectly well acquainted with the matters of which he wrote. Paul and Barnabas, having preached the word of God at Salamis [in Cyprus] went through "the isle to Paphos, where they found Barjesus, which was with the Deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus;" Acts xiii. 7. But in the Greek it is, with the Proconsul Sergius Paulus.P It is well known to the learned, that upon Augustus's becoming absolute master of the Roman commonwealth, there was a division made of the provinces of the empire;a the most powerful, or at least, those which required the greatest number of troops, the emperor kept to himself, the rest were made over to the people and senate. The officers sent by the emperor were called lieutenants, or proprætors, though they were consular persons; that is, though they had served the consulship in the city. The governors sent by the senate, into the provinces that belonged to their share, he appointed to be called proconsuls, a name more suitable to the peaceful state, which the provinces allotted to the senate were in. But the m Ant. lib. xx. c. vi. sect. 3. n Tacit. Hist. 1. ii. c. 2. et 81. Juv. Sat. 6. v. 155. Βερενικη δε ισχυρως τε ηνθεί, και δια τετο και ες την Ρώμην μετα το αδελφε τε Αγριππα ηλθεἡ δε εν τῳ παλατιῳ ωκεσε, και τῳ Τιτῳ συνεγιγνετο. Προσεδοκατο δε γαμηθησεσθαι αυτῷ, και παντα ηδη ώς και γυνη αυτό εσα εποιει ώς' εκείνον δυσχεραίνοντας τες Ρωμαίος επι τετους ᾔσθημενον, αποπεμψασθαι αυτην. Dio ex Xiphil. lib. 66. p. 752. Nec minus libido, [suspecta in eo erat,]—propterque insignem reginæ Berenices amorem, cui etiam nuptias pollicitus ferebatur-præcipueque sumtam sibi Berenicen statim ab urbe dimisit invitus invitam. Suet. in Tit. c. 7. Ρ Ος ην συν τῳ ανθυπατῳ Σεργια Παυλ. 4 Strabon. Geog. lib. 3. p. 166. Ed. Amst. 1707. et lib. xvii. fin. Suet. August. c. 47, 48. Dio. lib. 53. p. 503. • Τες τε ετέρες ύπο τε εαυτώ αιρείσθαι, και πρεσβευτας αυτό αντιςρατηγός τε ονομαζεσθαι, καν εκ των υπατευκότων ωσι, διέταξε. Dio. lib. 53. p. 504. D. division made at this time" underwent many changes. And a province, assigned at first to the senate, was afterwards made over to the emperor, and on the contrary. Such a change happened with reference to this province of Cyprus; which, in the first partition, was one of the emperor's provin ces, but was afterwards together with Gallia Narbonensis, given to the senate; in the room of which he took Dalmatia, which at first was theirs, In this state the province continued, and the proper title of the governor of Cyprus was that of proconsul. It is true, Strabo says, Cyprus was a prætorian province;" and this has made this text a mighty difficulty with many learned men. Beza went so far into the opinion of the impropriety of this expression, as to attempt to correct it, in his translation of this text, and he put proprætor in the room of proconsul. And the solutions, which have been offered by divers other learned men, have, I believe, appeared unsatisfactory. But if Dio's whole account of this matter had been attended to, the difficulty had vanished." Cyprus was undoubtedly a prætorian province, as all the people's provinces were, except two. But the governors of all their provinces had the title of proconsul. It was de' creed, that two of their provinces, Asia and Africa, should be ' appropriated to senators that had been consuls: and all the 'rest were given to those which had been prætors." • But that they should be all called proconsuls, not only those 'which had been consuls, but those also which had been only 'prætors.' And Suetonius says, That Augustus took the 'most powerful provinces to himself, and gave the rest to 'proconsuls chosen by the senate." 6 Examples also support this use of the word. Crete was a prætorian province, according to Strabo and Dio; yet Tacitus calls Cæsius Cordus, proconsul of Crete. There is also an • A. U. 727. before Christ, 27. vid. Basnage annal. Polit. Eccl. -Κύπρος, και Αιγυπτιοι εν τη τε Καίσαρος μερίδι τότε εγενοντο ύτερον γαρ την μεν Κυπρον και την Γαλατιαν την περι Ναρβωνα τῳ δημω απέδωκεν, κ. τ. λ. Dio. ibid. p. 504. Α. το τε δ' εν και την Κύπρον και την Γαλατίαν την Ναρβωνησίαν απέδωκε τῳ δημῳ- και ούτως, ανθύπατοι και EÇ EKELVA TA εOVη πεμπεσ0αι пρžavтo. id. lib. 54. ad A. U. 732. p. 523. B. " Εξ εκείνε δ' εγενετο επαρχία ἡ νήσος, καθαπερ και νυν εςι, σρατηγική. lib. 14. sub fin. ▾ Baron. A. Chr. 46. n. xi. Grot. in loc. &c. * Τη δε δη βέλη, ιδια μεν Vid. Noris. Cenotaph. Pisan. p. 219. τοις τε υπατευκοσι την τε Αφρικήν και την Ασίαν, και τοις εςρατηγηκοσι τα λοιπα παντα απένειμε. Dio. p. 505. C. * Και ανθυπατος καλεῖσθαι μη ότε τες υπατευκότας, αλλά και τες άλλες, των |
