Page:Selections. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray (1919).djvu/94

 (32) Herod Agrippa's Kingdom enlarged by Claudius

Cf. Map 44 in the Historical Atlas above cited. Claudius lost no time in discharging all suspected units of the forces. He then issued a decree, in which he confirmed to Agrippa the kingdom which he had received from Gaius and highly commended the king. Moreover, he added to his realm all the territory over which his grandfather Herod had reigned, namely Judæa and Samaria. Beside these districts, which he restored to him as his hereditary due, he added from his own domain Abila, which had once belonged to Lysanias, and all the mountain region of Lebanon. He ratified these gifts by a solemn treaty with Agrippa in the middle of the forum in the city of Rome.—Ant. XIX. 5. 1 (274 f.). (33) Death of Herod Agrippa

This should be compared with the account in Acts xii. 19-23. St. Luke differs from Josephus in representing the scene as a court of judgement, instead of a theatre.

Agrippa had completed the third year of his reign over (all) Judæa when he came to the city of Cæsarea, formerly called Strato's Tower. There he exhibited spectacles in Cæsar's honour, at a festival which he had instituted to commemorate the preservation of the Emperor's life, and a great multitude of the provincial magistrates and men of rank was assembled for the occasion.

On the second day of the performance he entered the theatre at daybreak, arrayed in a wonderfully woven robe made entirely of silver; whereupon the silver, caught by the first rays of the sun, was lit up and glittered in afor [Greek: epistamenos]).]