Page:Selections. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray (1919).djvu/112



Gessius Florus

Such was the character of Albinus, but his successor, Gessius Florus, made him appear by comparison a paragon of virtue. The crimes of Albinus were, for the most part, perpetrated in secret and with dissimulation; Gessius, on the contrary, ostentatiously paraded his lawless treatment of the nation, and, as though he had been sent as hangman of condemned criminals, committed every kind of robbery and outrage. In cases which called for compassion he was cruel beyond measure; in dealing with shameful conduct, he was utterly devoid of shame. No man ever poured greater contempt on truth or contrived more subtle methods of villainy. To make gain out of individuals seemed beneath him: he stripped whole cities, ruined entire populations, and almost went the length of proclaiming throughout the country that all were at liberty to rob on condition that he received his share of the spoils. Certainly his avarice brought desolation upon all districts, and caused many to desert their ancestral homes and seek refuge in foreign provinces.

So long as Cestius Gallus was in Syria discharging his provincial administrative duties, none dared to send a deputation to him to complain of Florus; but when he visited Jerusalem on the eve of the feast of unleavened bread, the people crowded around him to no less a number than three millions, imploring him to have compassion on the calamities of the nation, and loudly denouncing Florus as the ruin of the country. Florus, who was present at Cestius's side, scoffed at their outcry. Cestius, however, when he had quieted the excitement