נגד פלאקוס כ״אAgainst Flaccus 21
א׳
1[180] Such were the wild thoughts that he revolved as he waited anxiously for the fated end. And continual pangs kept his soul reeling in confusion. But Gaius, naturally ruthless and never satisfied with the revenges he had taken, did not like some others show clemency to those who had been punished once, but always in his unceasing anger was preparing some great new blow to inflict upon them. He hated Flaccus especially, so much so that in his dislike of his name he looked askance at all who shared it with him.
ב׳
2[181] He was often seized with regret that he had condemned him to exile instead of death and censured his intercessor Lepidus, in spite of the respect which he had for him, so that Lepidus was prostrate with fear of finding himself punished. For he naturally dreaded that by helping to lighten the sentence of another he would himself incur one still more severe.
ג׳
3[182] So as no one had any longer the courage to plead for mercy Gaius allowed his fierce passions to range unsoftened and unbridled, passions which were not blunted, as they should be, by time, but grew still more sharp-edged like relapses in bodily disease, which are more severe than those which preceded them.
ד׳
4[183] And so they say that one night as he lay awake his thoughts turned upon the exiles of high rank, how though nominally they were supposed to be people in misfortune they had really secured a life of release from business, of tranquillity and true liberty.
ה׳
5[184] He proposed also to change the title from exile to residence abroad, “for,” said he, “the banishment of such people is a sort of residence abroad where they have abundance of necessaries and can exist released from business and in general well-being and it is preposterous that they should luxuriate in the enjoyment of peace and the advantages of the philosopher’s life.”
ו׳
6[185] He then ordered that the most distinguished and those who were held in the highest account should be put to death and gave a list of the names headed by that of Flaccus. When the persons appointed to execute him arrived at Andros, Flaccus happened to be passing from the country to the town, and the party from the harbour came forward to meet him.
ז׳
7[186] When they were at some distance they saw him and he saw them and thence inferred the purpose which was urging them on. For the soul of every man is highly prophetic, particularly in distressing circumstances. He struck out from the road and raced away from them through the rough ground forgetting, perhaps, that Andros is not the mainland but an island in which speed is no use since it is enclosed by the sea. For there are only two possible alternatives, to go on farther and fall into the sea or to be caught on arriving at the very edge.
ח׳
8[187] And surely if we compare two evils it were better to perish on the land than in the sea, since nature has assigned the land to men and all the creatures that dwell on it as the most appropriate place not only in their lifetime but at their death; it received them when they first came into existence, it should also receive them when they finally depart from life.
ט׳
9[188] The assassins never lost a moment in pursuing him. When they caught him some of them at once dug a pit while others violently dragged him along, resisting and screaming and struggling hard, the result of which was that as wild beasts do, he ran upon the blows and had his whole body pierced with wounds.
י׳
10[189] For, as he clutched hold of the slaughterers and was so entangled in the scramble with them that they had no room to apply their swords directly but dealt their blows downwards and sidewards, he caused himself to suffer more severely, and with hands, feet, head, breast and sides slashed and cut to bits, he lay carved like a sacrificial victim. For it was the will of justice that the butcheries which she wrought on his single body should be as numerous as the number of the Jews whom he unlawfully put to death.
י״א
11[190] The whole place was flooded with the blood which poured out like a fountain from the many veins which one after the other were severed, while as his corpse was dragged into the pit which had been dug, most of the parts fell asunder as the ligaments which bind the whole body together in one had been rent.
י״ב
12[191] Such was the fate of Flaccus also, who thereby became an indubitable proof that the help which God can give was not withdrawn from the nation of the Jews.