principally in the territories of the Brigantes, lying north of the
Humber, and including the present counties of York and Durham.]

[Footnote 734: A.U.C. 804.]

[Footnote 735: Tacitus, Hist. V. xiii. 3., mentions this ancient
prediction, and its currency through the East, in nearly the same terms as
Suetonius. The coming power is in both instances described in the plural
number, profecti; "those shall come forth;" and Tacitus applies it to
Titus as well as Vespasian. The prophecy is commonly supposed to have
reference to a passage in Micah, v. 2, "Out of thee (Bethlehem-Ephrata)
shall He come forth, to be ruler in Israel." Earlier prophetic
intimations of a similar character, and pointing to a more extended
dominion, have been traced in the sacred records of the Jews; and there is
reason to believe that these books were at this time not unknown in the
heathen world, particularly at Alexandria, and through the Septuagint
version. These predictions, in their literal sense, point to the
establishment of a universal monarchy, which should take its rise in
Judaea. The Jews looked for their accomplishment in the person of one of
their own nation, the expected Messiah, to which character there were many
pretenders in those times. The first disciples of Christ, during the
whole period of his ministry, supposed that they were to be fulfilled in
him. The Romans thought that the conditions were answered by Vespasian,
and Titus having been called from Judaea to the seat of empire. The
expectations entertained by the Jews, and naturally participated in and
appropriated by the first converts to Christianity, having proved
groundless, the prophecies were subsequently interpreted in a spiritual
sense.]

[Footnote 736: Gessius Florus was at that time governor of Judaea, with
the title and rank of prepositus, it not being a proconsular province, as
the native princes still held some parts of it, under the protection and
with the alliance of the Romans. Gessius succeeded Florus Albinus, the
successor of Felix.]

[Footnote 737: Cestius Gallus was consular lieutenant in Syria.]

[Footnote 738: See note to c. vii.]

[Footnote 739: A right hand was the sign of sovereign power, and, as
every one knows, borne upon a staff among the standards of the armies.]

[Footnote 740: Tacitus says, "Carmel is the name both of a god and a
mountain; but there is neither image nor temple of the god; such are the
ancient traditions; we