and from there was sent back with Titus to take part in the siege of Jerusalem. . . . [His] services as interpreter and intercessor were more than once requisitioned by Titus;[1] on one occasion he was hit by a stone, and barely escaped capture and death at the hands of his countrymen. He was, he tells us, at this time between two fires; for, while bitterly hated by the Jews, he was suspected by the Romans of treachery whenever they met with a reverse."[2]
For his life in Rome, where he witnessed (with what feelings we are left to imagine) the triumphal procession of the two emperors,[3] and for the various privileges bestowed on him by Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, we may refer to his own narrative.[4] Awarded the rights of Roman citizenship, he was also among the first to be placed on the "civil list" newly instituted by Vespasian.[5] He was still pursued by Jewish hatred; among his opponents he names in particular Justus, a rival historian of the war, and Jonathan, the leader of a revolt in Cyrene, who accused him of complicity in his designs; but with his unfailing tact he succeeded in retaining the favour of the Flavian emperors and defeating his enemies. He appears to have survived into the second century, since he outlived Agrippa II,[6] whose death is placed by Photius in A.D. 100. Eusebius (H. E. III. 9) tells us that our author was honoured by the erection of his statue in Rome, and that his works were placed in the public library. He was married at least four times;[7] one wife deserted him, another he divorced.
