Page:Selections. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray (1919).djvu/84



When the tumult was quelled, the Samaritan council approached Vitellius, the governor of Syria, of consular rank, with accusations against Pilate for his butchery of the victims. They said that the object of the expedition to Tirathana was not revolt from Rome, but to seek refuge from Pilate's insolence. Vitellius thereupon sent Marcellus, a friend of his, to take over the administration of Judæa, and ordered Pilate to depart for Rome, to render his account to the Emperor of the charges brought against him by the Samaritans. Pilate, accordingly—after ten years' residence in Judæa—went in haste to Rome on the instructions of Vitellius, which he must needs obey. But before he reached Rome, Tiberius was no more.—Ant. XVIII. 4. 1 f. (87-89.)

Josephus proceeds to tell how Vitellius went up to Jerusalem and pacified the Jews by restoring to them the custody of the high priest's vestments, recently in Roman hands. Also how he deposed the high priest "Joseph, surnamed Caiaphas." Thus the three responsible authorities for the trial of our Lord—the Emperor, Pilate and Caiaphas—quit the scene simultaneously. After the next extract, we pass from the period of the Gospel history to the period covered by the Acts.