Legatio Ad Gaium

Philo Judaeus

The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, volume 4. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855.

Then again he was drawn in the opposite direction by considerations of a contrary character, saying to himself,

v.4.p.149
"This is the command of one who is my master and a young man, and of one who judges everything which he wishes to have done to be expedient and becoming, and who is resolved that everything which he has once decided on shall be at once performed even though it may be the most injurious measure possible and full of all contention and insolence; and now having passed beyond all human nature he has actually recorded himself to be God; and great danger of my life impends over me whether I oppose him or whether I comply with his commands; if I comply with them the result will very probably be war, and one that perhaps may be attended with doubtful success and which will be far from turning out as it is expected to do; and if I oppose him I shall then be exposed to the open and implacable hatred of Caius."

And with this opinion of his, many of those Romans who were joined with him in the administration of the affairs of Syria coincided, knowing that the anger of Caius and the punishments which he would inflict would come upon them first as being accomplices in the disobedience to the injunctions which he had sent;

but at last when it arrived the fashion of the statue afforded them a pretext for delay during which they might have time for a more deliberate consideration of the matter; for they did not send any man from Rome (as it appears to me because the providence of God overruled the matter in this way, who thus invisibly stayed the hand of these wicked doers), nor did he command the most skilful man or him who was accounted so in Syria to manage the matter, since while he was pressing on this lawless action with all speed a war was suddenly kindled.

Therefore having now opportunity to consider what course would be most advantageous (for when great events suddenly come altogether, they break down and perplex the mind), he commanded the statue to be made in some one of the bordering regions.