נגד פלאקוס י״דAgainst Flaccus 14
א׳
1[116] Such was the unprecedented blow which fell upon Flaccus, carried off like a prisoner in war in the country which he was governing. It was caused, I am convinced, by his treatment of the Jews, whom in his craving for aggrandisement he had resolved to exterminate utterly. We have a clear proof of this also in the time of his arrest, for the Jews were holding then the national feast of the autumn equinox, in which it is the custom of the Jews to live in tents.
ב׳
2[117] But nothing at all of the festal proceedings was being carried out. The rulers after suffering deadly and intolerable injuries and outrages were still in prison and their misfortunes were regarded by the commoners as shared by the whole nation, while the special sufferings which each of them experienced individually made them extremely depressed.
ג׳
3[118] For painful sensations are apt to double themselves most especially at feast time in persons who are unable to observe the feast, both because they are deprived of the cheerful gaiety which the festal gathering demands and also because they communicate to each other their sorrow—sorrow which in this case laid them prostrate through their powerlessness to find any remedy for their great miseries.
ד׳
4[119] They were in this very painful condition oppressed by an overwhelming burden when there came to them while crowded in their houses, because night was falling, some messengers who announced the arrest that had been made. They supposed that it was no true story but something fabricated to try them and were still more pained at what seemed a mockery and a snare.
ה׳
5[120] But when a tumult arose in the city and the night-watch were running up and down and horsemen busily riding backwards and forwards at full speed to and from the camp, some of them, stirred by so unusual an event, advanced from their houses to get information of what had occurred. For it was clear that there was some upheaval.
ו׳
6[121] And when they learnt of the arrest and that Flaccus was now within the toils, with hands outstretched to heaven they sang hymns and led songs of triumph to God who watches over human affairs. “We do not rejoice, O Lord,” they said, “at the punishment meted to an enemy, for we have been taught by the holy laws to have human sympathy. But we justly give thanks to Thee because Thou has taken pity and compassion on us and relieved our unbroken and ceaseless afflictions.”
ז׳
7[122] All night long they continued to sing hymns and songs of praise and at dawn pouring out through the gates, they made their way to the parts of the beach near at hand, since their meeting-houses had been taken from them, and standing in the most open space cried aloud with one accord
ח׳
8[123] “Most Mighty King of mortals and immortals, we have come here to call on earth and sea, and air and heaven, into which the universe is partitioned, and on the whole world, to give Thee thanks. They are our only habitation, expelled as we are from all that men have wrought, robbed of our city and the buildings within its walls, public and private, alone of all men under the sun bereft of home and country through the malignancy of a governor.
ט׳
9[124] Thou givest also a glimpse of cheering hopes that Thou wilt amend what remains for amendment, in that Thou hast already begun to assent to our prayers. For the common enemy of the nation, under whose leadership and by whose instruction these misfortunes have befallen it, who in his windy pride thought that they would promote him to honour, Thou hast suddenly brought low; and that not when he was afar off, so that they whom he ill-treated would hear it by report and have less keen pleasure, but just here close at hand almost before the eyes of the wronged to give them a clearer picture of the swift and unhoped-for visitation.”