the name by which he was so long and well known in the city of Rome. St. Luke, who has occasion to speak only of a few actions of his while reigning in Judæa, as properly calls him by his Syriac name, the name which in all probability he most affected in his own country and dominions.

§. 2. When this king died, Judæa being again made a province, after some others Felix was sent thither as governor by the emperor Claudius. St. Paul, in his defence before this governor, says, Forasmuch as I know, that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation". The learned bishop Pearson thinks that he had been now governor five years and a half only : and this, when compared with the time of his three immediate predecessors, Cuspius Fadus, Tiberius Alexander, and Cumanus, might be well said to be many years, it being near as long again as the time allotted to each of them: for the government of all these three together could not last much above eight years and a half at the furthest. But, for any reasons that I have yet seen advanced by learned men to the contrary, Felix might have been at this time procurator of Judæa between seven and eight years. Josephus does not so precisely fix the time of his being appointed governor as that there should remain no doubt. It is true, after he has said, "And Claudius sends Felix "the brother of Pallas to preside over the affairs of "Judæa," he immediately adds, " and having now completed the twelfth year of his reign, he gives "to Agrippa the tetrarchy of Philip and Batanea *."

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Jos. Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6. Suet. Claud. c. 28. 2. 9. u Acts xxiv. 10.

Tacit. Ann. 1. 12. 54.

X Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6. §. 1.

Hist. 5. 9.

The thing in question is, whether we must understand the first part of this last sentence to look back to what he had before related; as if he should have said, "While these affairs were transacting, Clau"dius finished the twelfth year of his reign, and "then gave Agrippa the tetrarchy;" or whether we must understand it as the beginning of a new relation; "And when Claudius had now completed his "twelfth year he gives Agrippa the tetrarchy." It is plain Eusebius interpreted it in this latter sense; for he places the beginning of Felix's government in the eleventh year of the reign of Claudius . The same reasons also which the learned bishop Pearson gives why Felix might be acquitted at the intercession of his brother Pallas, in the sixth year of Nero, equally extend to the seventh, if not to the eighth of that emperor's reign.

y In Chron.

z Vid. Annal. Paulin. p. 17. The learned archbishop Usher says, in his Annals, that Felix was at this time in the tenth year of his government. He takes it for granted that the province was divided between Cumanus and Felix, as reported by Tacitus, Annal. I. 12. 54. But as Josephus says not one word of this division, and plainly relates that the whole province was under each of these successively, there is no great stress to be laid on the words of Tacitus. Josephus tells us that Claudius reigned thirteen years, eight months, and twenty days. Let us suppose that Felix came into his government in the beginning of his twelfth year, in the second or third month of that year, and that St. Paul appeared before Felix in the fifth of Nero, that is, after he had reigned four years and nine months; this makes seven years and four months. Two years after this, Felix went to Rome, and found Burrhus and Pallas both living. Jos. Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6. §. 9. And this he might well do, it being now but the seventh of Nero, and they were not put to death till the ninth of Nero, C. Marius Celsus and L. Asinius Gallus being consuls. Tac. Ann.

It is related of this Felix in the book of Acts, that he had a wife whose name was Drusilla, which was a Jewessa. Josephus gives us a particular account of this matter: he says, that Drusilla, daughter of Herod Agrippa, king of Judæa, and sister of Agrippa junior, was by her brother placed in marriage to Azizus, king of the Emesenes, who consented to be circumcised that he might obtain her: that Felix, when procurator of Judæa, having seen her, was greatly taken with her beauty; and sending a friend of his, named Simon, who was a Jew, and took upon him to be a magician, persuaded her to leave her husband, and be married to him, promising to make her a happy woman, if she did not reject him and that she, in order to avoid the envy of her sister Bernice, who had done her no little injury upon the account of her beauty, was prevailed with to break through the Jewish laws, and be married to Felix b. It is true, Tacitus the Roman historian tells us that this Felix was married to Drusilla the granddaughter of Cleopatra and Antony c. But this is noways inconsistent with what Josephus relates for Suetonius informs us that he was the husband of three queens d, meaning, I suppose, three kings' daughters: two of these were named Dru

:

1. 14. 51. 65. Even St. Paul himself might in this case arrive at Rome in the fourth month of Nero's eighth year; the emperor Claudius dying the thirteenth day of October. Seneca ȧжOкoλ. Dio, p. 688. The firing of Rome, and the persecution following, did not happen till Nero's eleventh year was well advanced. Vid. Tac.

a Ch. xxiv. ver. 24.

b Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6. §. 1, 2.

Hist. 1. 5. 9. fin.

In Claud. 28. 2. trium reginarum maritum.

silla. She that was granddaughter to Cleopatra and Antony was daughter to Juba king of Mauritania, by their daughter Cleopatra ©.

It is further said of this governor, in the history of the Acts, that he hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him; wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him. This well agrees with the character given him both by Josephus and Tacitus. The former relates, that "Jonathan the high priest, "who had petitioned Cæsar to send him procurator "of Judæa, lest he himself should incur the blame "of his maladministration, oftentimes admonished "him to amend his conduct in the government of "Judæa, insomuch that he became not seldom trou"blesome to him. For," adds Josephus, "frequent "admonition is grievous to those who are deter"mined to be unjust." To get rid of the tiresome importunity of this high priest, who would have had him act a more just and upright part, he, by promising large sums of money, corrupted Doras, a most intimate friend of Jonathan, to employ ruffians to murder him, which he accordingly did. A little after, Josephus adds, "When Porcius Festus was "sent by Nero to succeed him in the government, "the chief of the Jews inhabiting Cæsarea went up "to Rome to accuse Felix; and he had surely been punished for his vile practices, and wicked acts of 'injustice towards the Jews, had not Nero been very indulgent to the entreaties of his brother "Pallas, who was then in high favour." Tacitus,

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e Vid. Suet. in Calig. 26. 1. Dio, 49. 411. b. et 51.454. a. et 459. b. c. Plut. Anton. p. 955. d. f Acts xxiv. 26. s Antiq. 1. 20. c. 7. §. 5.

h Ibid. §. 9.

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in exact agreement herewith, says, "that Felix, depending on the power his brother Pallas had at "court, thought he might do all manner of wicked"ness with impunity." And in another place," that "he exercised a despotic and absolute power in a "base and servile manner, practising all sorts of cruelty and lust k." How very proper was it to preach to such a person of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come! how deeply must his conscience smite him! what just reason had he to tremble!

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n

It is said in the Acts, that Porcius Festus came into Felix's roomm. It is also expressly affirmed in the place I have but just quoted from Josephus, "that Porcius Festus was sent by Nero to succeed "Felix "." The sacred historian adds, that then Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound, i. e. a prisoner: and doubtless, such a governor, at the time he was obliged to deliver up his power, would gladly catch at any popular act, and readily do any thing that he thought might contribute to allay the heats raised against him, in order to prevent, if possible, the people's following him to court with their accusations. Thus Albinus, as Josephus relates, another most corrupt governor

At non frater ejus cognomento Felix pari moderatione agebat, jam pridem Judææ impositus, et cuncta malefacta sibi impune ratus, tanta potentia subnixo. Annal. l. 12. c. 54.

k Per omnem sævitiam ac libidinem, jus regium servili ingenio exercuit. Hist. 1. 5. 9.

Vid. Acts xxiv. 25.

m Acts xxiv. 27.

Antiq. 1. 20. c. 7. §. 9. vid. et de Bell. 1. 2. c. 14. §. 1. pr. • Acts xxiv. 27.