Page:Selections. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray (1919).djvu/186



I. Note on § (24).

P. Sulpicius Quirinius, a native of Lanuvium, was consul in 12 ; some years later was sent on an expedition against the Homonadenses, a mountain tribe in Cilicia, and was awarded a triumph for his successes; accompanied Gaius Cæsar, grandson of Augustus, to the East in 2 as his tutor; and in  6 was appointed Governor of Syria as legatus of the Emperor, and in that capacity took over Judæa on the deposition of Archelaus, and made the valuation of the newly-annexed district here described by Josephus. Towards the end of his life he caused some scandal at Rome by the divorce of his wife Lepida, whom he accused of attempting to poison him. He remained in favour with Tiberius, who, on his death about 21, secured him a public funeral. A mutilated inscription found near Tivoli (Tibur) seems to prove that he was twice governor of Syria. (Tacitus Ann. III. 48 and 22; Suet. Tib. 49 ; art. in Encycl. Bibl.).

This is not the place to discuss the formidable difficulties arising from St. Luke's reference (ii. 1 ff.) to "the decree from Cæsar Augustus" and "the first enrolment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria." These are set out in full in Schürer's ''Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ'', i. 2, pp. 105-143; on the other side should be read Sir W. M. Ramsay's Was Christ born at Bethlehem? (1898). It has been held that St. Luke is guilty of an anachronism in making the birth of Christ