Page:Selections. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray (1919).djvu/108

 (39) ''Seeds of the War sown under the last of the Procurators. Rise of the Sicarii''

Felix

After this Claudius sent out Felix, the brother of Pallas, as procurator of Judæa, Samaria, Galilee and Peræa. Agrippa he transferred from Chalcis to a larger kingdom, assigning to him Philip's former province, namely Batanæa, Trachonitis and Gaulanitis; to this he added the kingdom of Lysanias and the province which had belonged to Varus. After holding the imperial office for thirteen years, eight months and twenty days, Claudius died, leaving Nero as his successor in the government

Nero annexed to Agrippa's kingdom four cities with their districts, namely, Abila, Julias in Peræa, and in Galilee Tarichæa and Tiberias. He appointed Felix to be procurator of the rest of Judæa. Felix took prisoner Eleazar, the arch-brigand who for twenty years had ravaged the country, with many of his associates, and sent them for trial to Rome. Of the brigands whom he crucified, and of the common people who were detected of complicity with them and punished by him, the number was incalculable.

Rise of the Sicarii

But, while the country was thus cleared of these pests, a new species of banditti was springing up in Jerusalem, the so-called Sicarii, who committed murders in broad daylight in the heart of the city. The festivals were their special seasons, when they would mingle with the crowd, carrying short daggers concealed under their