y
espoused the cause of the Jews, as in like manner many of the great men
stood by Cumanus,] he condemned the Samaritans, and commanded that three
of the most powerful men among them should be put to death; he banished
Cumanus, and sent Color bound to Jerusalem, to be delivered over to the
Jews to be tormented; that he should be drawn round the city, and then
beheaded.

8. After this Caesar sent Felix, [16] the brother of Pallas, to be
procurator of Galilee, and Samaria, and Perea, and removed Agrippa from
Chalcis unto a greater kingdom; for he gave him the tetrarchy which
had belonged to Philip, which contained Batanae, Trachonitis, and
Gaulonitis: he added to it the kingdom of Lysanias, and that province
[Abilene] which Varus had governed. But Claudius himself, when he had
administered the government thirteen years, eight months, and twenty
days, died, and left Nero to be his successor in the empire, whom he had
adopted by his Wife Agrippina's delusions, in order to be his successor,
although he had a son of his own, whose name was Britannicus, by
Messalina his former wife, and a daughter whose name was Octavia, whom
he had married to Nero; he had also another daughter by Petina, whose
name was Antonia.

CHAPTER 13.

Nero Adds Four Cities To Agrippas Kingdom; But The Other
Parts Of Judea Were Under Felix. The Disturbances Which Were
Raised By The Sicarii The Magicians And An Egyptian False
Prophet. The Jews And Syrians Have A Contest At Cesarea.

1. Now as to the many things in which Nero acted like a madman, out of
the extravagant degree of the felicity and riches which he enjoyed, and
by that means used his good fortune to the injury of others; and after
what manner he slew his brother, and wife, and mother, from whom his
barbarity spread itself to others that were most nearly related to him;
and how, at last, he was so distracted that he became an actor in
the scenes, and upon the theater,--I omit to say any more about them,
because there are writers enough upon those subjects every where; but
I shall turn myself to those actions of his time in which the Jews were
concerned.

2. Nero therefore bestowed the kingdom of the Lesser Armenia upon
Aristobulus, Herod's son, [17] and he added to Agrippa's kingdom four
cities, with the toparchies to them belonging; I mean Abila, and that
Julias which is in Perea, Tarichea also, and Tiberias of Galilee; but
over the rest of Judea he made Felix p