o give me thanks for the care I have taken of your nation, and to
entreat me, in an earnest and obliging manner, that they may have the
holy vestments, with the crown belonging to them, under their power,--I
grant their request, as that excellent person Vitellius, who is very
dear to me, had done before me. And I have complied with your desire,
in the first place, out of regard to that piety which I profess, and
because I would have every one worship God according to the laws of
their own country; and this I do also because I shall hereby highly
gratify king Herod, and Agrippa, junior, whose sacred regards to me,
and earnest good-will to you, I am well acquainted with, and with whom
I have the greatest friendship, and whom I highly esteem, and look on as
persons of the best character. Now I have written about these affairs
to Cuspius Fadus, my procurator. The names of those that brought me
your letter are Cornelius, the son of Cero, Trypho, the son of Theudio,
Dorotheus, the son of Nathaniel, and John, the son of Jotre. This letter
is dated before the fourth of the calends of July, when Ruffis and
Pompeius Sylvanus are consuls."

3. Herod also, the brother of the deceased Agrippa, who was then
possessed of the royal authority over Chalcis, petitioned Claudius
Caesar for the authority over the temple, and the money of the sacred
treasure, and the choice of the high priests, and obtained all that he
petitioned for. So that after that time this authority continued among
all his descendants till the end of the war [1] Accordingly, Herod
removed the last high priest, called Cimtheras, and bestowed that
dignity on his successor Joseph, the son of Cantos.

CHAPTER 2. How Helena The Queen Of Adiabene And Her Son Izates, Embraced
The Jewish Religion; And How Helena Supplied The Poor With Corn, When
There Was A Great Famine At Jerusalem.

1. About this time it was that Helena, queen of Adiabene, and her son
Izates, changed their course of life, and embraced the Jewish customs,
and this on the occasion following: Monobazus, the king of Adiabene, who
had also the name of Bazeus, fell in love with his sister Helena, and
took her to be his wife, and begat her with child. But as he was in bed
with her one night, he laid his hand upon his wife's belly, and fell
asleep, and seemed to hear a voice, which bid him take his hand off his
wife's belly, and not hurt the infant that was therein, which, by God's
providence, would be sa