Tacitus, Annals 12.54
created: This entry is taken from Annals 12.54 written by Tacitus in 117-120 C.E.. This w
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: la; la
availability: Except for materials quoted from other sources, this entry is copyright 2023 by the contributors (Joseph L. Rife, et al.) and the Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project. It is licensed under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Some texts quoted in this entry may be in the public domain in the United States. No copyright is asserted for these quotations. Some texts quoted in this entry may have copyright restrictions and are reused under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/421

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Tacitus, Annals 12.54. This passage was written ca. 117-120 C.E. possibly in Rome. Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 56-ca. 120 C.E.) was an ancient historian of the Roman Empire held in high esteem by scholars today. He enjoyed a successful career as a prominent lawyer, a rising official in both the civic and provincial spheres, and eventually suffect consul in 97 C.E. and then governor of Asia in 112-113 C.E. His major historical works, Histories and so-called Annals (“From the Departure of Augustus the God,” ab excessu divi Augusti), offered a detailed narrative with penetrating political analysis of the Imperial government and its ruling class from the death of Augustus through the Flavian dynasty, probably the death of Domitian (14-96 C.E.). In this passage, Tacitus gives his version of the Jewish-Samaritan conflict in ca. 52 C.E. that led to intervention by the Syrian governor Quadratus and eventually the condemnation of the governor Cumanus by the emperor Claudius. The two named procurators of Judaea, Felix and Cumanus, are otherwise attested at Caesarea, which witnessed tensions during this conflict.

At non frater eius, cognomento Felix, pari moderatione agebat, iam pridem Iudaeae impositus et cuncta malefacta sibi impune ratus tanta potentia subnixo. Sane praebuerant Iudaei speciem motus orta seditione, postquam <…..> cognita caede eius haud obtemperatum esset, manebat metus ne quis principum eadem imperitaret. Atque interim Felix intempestivis remediis delicta accendebat, aemulo ad deterrima Ventidio, cui pars provinciae habebatur, ita divisis ut huic Galilaeorum natio, Felici Samaritae parerent, discordes olim et tum contemptu regentium minus coercitis odiis. Igitur raptare inter se, immittere latronum globos, componere insidias et aliquando proeliis congredi, spoliaque et praedas ad procuratores referre. Hique primo laetari, mox gliscente pernicie cum arma militum interiecissent, caesi milites; arsissetque bello provincia, ni Quadratus Syriae rector subvenisset. nec diu adversus Iudaeos, qui in necem militum proruperant, dubitatum quin capite poenas luerent: Cumanus et Felix cunctationem adferebant, quia Claudius causis rebellionis auditis ius statuendi etiam de procuratoribus dederat. Sed Quadratus Felicem inter iudices ostentavit, receptum in tribunal, quo studia accusantium deterrerentur; damnatusque flagitiorum quae duo deliquerant Cumanus, et quies provinciae reddita.

[Ed. Pelham and Fisher 1956]

Not acting with the same moderation, however, was his brother, surnamed Felix, who had for some time held the governorship of Judaea, and thought that he could enact any evil without penalty because he was bolstered by such great power. The Jews, it is true, had given signs of unrest in a rebellious uprising following <Gaius’s mandate that an image of himself be erected in the Temple, and though> the news of his murder had rendered their compliance needless, the fear remained that some emperor might issue a similar order. Meanwhile, Felix was promoting crime by poorly timed remedies, and he had as his rival in the most depraved acts Ventidius Cumanus, his colleague in the other part of the province, which was so divided that the Galileans were subject to him and the Samaritans to Felix. These peoples had long been in disagreement, and now, out of contempt for their rulers, their hatred was even less restrained. Accordingly, they pillaged each other, sent in bands of thieves, assembled ambushes and sometimes joined in battle, and brought the spoil and loot to the procurators. At first these two rejoiced over it, but as the damage grew they intervened with armed forces; the soldiers were killed; and the province would have been ablaze in war if Quadratus the governor of Syria had not come to the rescue. With regard to the Jews, who had gone so far as to slay the slay the soldiers, there was no hesitation that they would suffer capital punishment. Cumanus and Felix brought about further delay, because Claudius, when he heard the causes of the rebellion, had granted authority for deciding the case of the procurators themselves. Quadratus, however, revealed Felix to be among the judges, having admitted him to the tribunal to dampen the zeal of the prosecutors. So Cumanus was condemned of the crimes that the two had committed, and quiet returned to the province.

[Adapted from Jackson 1937]

Works Cited

[...] 12 54
[...] 3 392-395

[Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 20.5-7]

[Galilee

Judaea

Samaria

Syria]

[Antonius Felix, governor

Claudius, emperor

Gaius Caesar (Caligula), emperor

Gaius Ummidius Dermius Quadratus, governor of Syria

Ventidius Cumanus, procurator of Judaea]

[Government and Law

Jewish History

Judaism

Military

Roman History]