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.

And when he was about to add other charges against them Agrippa fell into such a state of grief that he changed into all sorts of colours, becoming at the same moment bloodshot, and pale, and livid,

for he was all over agitation and trembling from the top of his head down to his feet, and a quivering and shaking seized upon and disordered all

v.4.p.159

his limbs and every member of his body, all his sinews, and muscles, and nerves being relaxed and enfeebled, so that he fainted away, and would have fallen down if some of the bystanders had not supported him. And they being commanded to carry him home, bore him to his palace, where he lay for some time in a state of torpor without any one understanding what sudden misfortune had brought him into this state.

Therefore Caius was exasperated still more against our nation, and cherished a more furious anger against us than before, "For," said he, "if Agrippa, who is my most intimate and dearest friend, and one bound to me by so many benefits, is so completely under the influence of his national customs that he cannot bear even to hear a word against them, but faints away to such a degree as to be near dying, what must one expect will be the feelings of others who have no motive or influence to draw them the other way?"

Agrippa, then, during all that day and the greater portion of the next day, lay in a state of profound stupor, being completely unconscious of everything that passed; but about evening he raised his head a little, and for a short time opened, though with difficulty, his languid eyes, and with dim and indistinct vision looked upon the people who surrounded him, though he was not as yet able to distinguish clearly between their several forms and features;