length as to take away from his crime even the shadowy excuse of hastiness. This was one of the last acts of a bloody life; but ere he died, returning tenderness towards the unfortunate race of Mariamne, led him to spare and cherish the infant children of Aristobulus, the younger of the two, who left three sons and two daughters to the tender mercies of his cruel father. One of these was the person who is concerned in the next event of Peter's life, and whose situation and conduct in reference to that affair, was such as to justify this prolonged episode. He received in infancy the name of Agrippa, out of compliment to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the favorite and minister of Augustus Caesar, and the steady friend of the great Herod. This name was exclusively borne by this son of Aristobulus in childhood, nor was it ever displaced by any other, except by some of the Jews, who, out of compliment to the restoration of the Herodian line of kings, in place of the Roman sub-governors, gave him the name of his royal grandfather, so that he is mentioned only by the name of Herod in the story of the Acts of the Apostles; but the Romans and Greeks seem to have known him only by his proper name of Agrippa. The tardy repentance of his grandfather did not extend to any important permanent provision for the children of Aristobulus; but on his death a few years after, they were left with the great majority of the numerous progeny of Herod, to the precarious fortunes of dependent princes. The young Agrippa having married his own cousin, Cypros, the daughter of a daughter of Herod and Mariamne, sailed to Rome, where he remained for several years, a sort of beggar about the court of Tiberius Caesar, through whose favor he hoped for an advancement to some one of the thrones in Palestine, which seemed to be prizes for any of Herod's numerous descendents who could best secure the imperial favor, and depress the possessors in the Caesar's opinion. Passing at Rome and elsewhere through a romantic variety of fortune, this adventurer was at last lucky in securing to himself the most friendly regard of Caius Caesar, then the expected successor of the reigning emperor. This afterwards proved the basis of his fortunes, which for a while, however, were darkened by the consequences of an imprudent remark made to Caius, expressive of a wish for the death of Tiberias, which was reported to the jealous tyrant by a listening slave, and finally caused the speaker's close imprisonment during the rest of the emperor's life. The death of Tiberius, followed by the accession of Caius
