[343] Now when Agrippa had reigned three years over all

Judea, he came to the city Cesarea, which was formerly

called Strato's Tower; and there he exhibited shows

in honor of Caesar, upon his being informed that there

was a certain festival celebrated to make vows for his

safety. At which festival a great multitude was gotten

together of the principal persons, and such as were of

dignity through his province. On the second day of which

shows he put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of

a contexture truly wonderful, and came into the theater

early in the morning; at which time the silver of his

garment being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the

sun's rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner,

and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those

that looked intently upon him; and presently his flatterers

cried out, one from one place, and another from another,

(though not for his good,) that he was a god; and they

added, "Be thou merciful to us; for although we have

hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we

henceforth own thee as superior to mortal nature." Upon

this the king did neither rebuke them, nor reject their

impious flattery. But as he presently afterward looked up,

he saw an owl 1 sitting on a certain rope over his head,

and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger

of ill tidings, as it had once been the messenger of good

tidings to him; and fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe

pain also arose in his belly, and began in a most violent

manner. He therefore looked upon his friends, and said,

"I, whom you call a god, am commanded presently to depart

this life; while Providence thus reproves the lying words

you just now said to me; and I, who was by you called

immortal, am immediately to be hurried away by death. But

I am bound to accept of what Providence allots, as it

pleases God; for we have by no means lived ill, but in a

splendid and happy manner." When he said this, his pain

was become violent. Accordingly he was carried into the

palace, and the rumor went abroad every where, that he

would certainly die in a little time. But the multitude

presently sat in sackcloth, with their wives and children,

after the law of their country, and besought God for the

king's recovery. All places were also full of mourning

and lamentation. Now the king rested in a high chamber,

and as he saw them below lying prostrate on the ground,

he could not himself forbear weeping. And when he had

been quite worn out by the pain in his belly for five

days, he departed this life, being in the fifty-fourth

year of his age, and in the seventh year of his reign;

for he reigned four years under Caius Caesar, three of

them were over Philip's tetrarchy only, and on the fourth

he had that of Herod added to it; and he reigned, besides

those, three years under the reign of Claudius Caesar;

in which time he reigned over the forementioned countries,

and also had Judea added to them, as well as Samaria and

Cesarea. The revenues that he received out of them were

very great, no less than twelve millions of drachme. 2

Yet did he borrow great sums from others; for he was

so very liberal that his expenses exceeded his incomes,

and his generosity was boundless. 3 1 We have a mighty

cry made here by some critics, as the great Eusebius had

on purpose falsified this account of Josephus, so as to

make it agree with the parallel account in the Acts of the

Apostles, because the present copies of his citation of it,

Hist. Eceles. B. II. ch. 10., omit the words an owl--on

a certain rope, which Josephus's present copies retain,

and only have the explicatory word or angel; as if he meant

that angel of the Lord which St. Luke mentions as smiting

Herod, Acts 12:23, and not that owl which Josephus called

an angel or messenger, formerly of good, but now of bad

news, to Agrippa. This accusation is a somewhat strange one

in the case of the great Eusebius, who is known to have so

accurately and faithfully produced a vast number of other

ancient records, and particularly not a few out of our

Josephus also, without any suspicion of prevarication. Now,

not to allege how uncertain we are whether Josephus's and

Eusebius's copies of the fourth century were just like the

present in this clause, which we have no distinct evidence

of, the following words, preserved still in Eusebius,

will not admit of any such exposition: "This [bird] (says

Eusebius) Agrippa presently perceived to be the cause of

ill fortune, as it was once of good fortune, to him;" which

can only belong to that bird, the owl, which as it had

formerly foreboded his happy deliverance from imprisonment,

Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 6. sect. 7, so was it then foretold

to prove afterward the unhappy forerunner of his death in

five days' time. If the improper words signifying cause,

be changed for Josephus's proper word angel or messenger,

and the foregoing words, be inserted, Esuebius's text will

truly represent that in Josephus. Had this imperfection

been in some heathen author that was in good esteem with

our modern critics, they would have readily corrected these

as barely errors in the copies; but being in an ancient

Christian writer, not so well relished by many of those

critics, nothing will serve but the ill-grounded supposal

of willful corruption and prevarication.