We first hear of Felix in connexion with the disorders in Samaria under his predecessor Ven- tidius Cumanus. The latter refusing to punish the Samaritans for the murder of some Galihvan pilgrims, the Zealots ma.ssacred many Samaritans, and were in turn massacred by Cumanus. Both sides appealed to Ummidius Quadratus, legate oi
2
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Syria, who intenened \rith great severity and Bunt C\imanu8 to Rome (Jos. BJ II. xii. 3 11'. ; Ant. XX. vi. 1-3). According to Josephus, Felix was now, at tlie request of the higli priest Jonathan, who had been sent to Rome with Cumanus, sent as successor to the latter ; and Jos. proceeds to relate how, upon completing his twelfth year (Jan. 24, A.D. 53), Claudius gave certain territories to Agrippa. Coupled with the fact that Tacitus places the deposition of Cumanus in the year ."iS, this fairly li.\es Felix' appointment to the latter year. A difficulty arises, however, from the fact that Tacitus, in his account (Ann. xii. 54) of what led to the deposition of Cumanus, speaks of Felix as • iam pridcm ludaeae impositus . . . ut [Ciiraauo] Galilaeorum natio, Felici Saniaritae parerent.' It has been attempted to combine the latter state- ment with the 'many j'ears' of Ac 24'° by the hypothesis that before his appointment as pro- curator Felix had held some subordinate appomt- ment in Samaria. But Josephus clearly intimates that Felix was first appointed to the province on this occasion ; and on the whole, in spite of the authority of Momrasen and the arguments of Blass {Act, Apost. p. 21), we join Schiirer in following Josephus here, as likely to be the better informed. F'elix received from his patron the (for a freed- man) unprecedented honour of military command as well as civil jurisdiction (' cohortibus et alls pro- uinciaeque' . . . Suet. Claud. 28). His character as governor was that of a man raised from a low origin to unfitting eminence — 'per omnem saeuitiam et libidinem ius re>;iuni seruUi ingenio exercuit' (Tac. Hist. V. 9). The general results of his rule are aptly summed up by the same writer, 'intem- I)estiuis remediis delicta aceendebat ' (Ann. xii. 54, and see Tektullus). His ferocity against the ' Zealots ' and their supposed partisans gave birth, or new strength, to the Sicarii, — a more numerous and extreme class of fanatics, — who were in turn used by fanatical rebels (cf. Ac 21'") until half the nation was in the wildest disaffection. St. Paul probably came into contact with Felix as stated above from two to four years after the accession of Nero (54), by whom Felix must have been con- firmed in office. The jroXXd Irri of Ac 24'° are hardly, therefore (as Harnack, Chron. 253, contends), com- patible with a date earlier than the last named. During the last two years of Felix' tenure of office, and therefore during Paul's imprisonment at Ciesarea, fall the serious riots between the Jewish and Syrian inhabitants of the latter town about l<roTro\iT€ia. F'elix, whose customary methods had failed to quell the disturbances, sent the heads of both parties to Rome for the emperor to decide the case. But before any final decision Felix was recalled. The violence with which he had inter- fered in this matter partly explains his anxiety to do the Jews a parting favour (Ac 24-'' ; see Jos BJ U. xiii. 7 ; Ant. XX. viii. 7). The Jews, how- ever (Jos. Ant. XX. viii. 9), lodged an indictment against him, which failed only through tlie in- fluence of Pallas. Of Felix' later history nothing is known (see Schiirer, HJP l. ii. 174 ti'., and the authorities cited by him. For the chronological questions involved, see F'ESTUS, and art. CimoNO- LOQY OF NT, p. 417 f.). A. RonERTSON.
FELLOW ( from /(?= property, money, and lag to lay ; hence ' one who lays down money in a joint andertaking with others'). In AV two easily separated meanings are found.
1. Partner, companion. The Heb words are (a) V-i ria'. Ex 2", Jg 7'»-"-» 1 S 14» 2S 2""'", Is 34", Jon V, Zee 3» ; RV adds 1 K 2IJ» for AV 'neighbour,' as the word is generally tr'' elsewheie in AV and RV. Once the feni. of this word (rtiii * " For tbo reading see Moore, in loe.
rS'dh) is tr'' ' fellow,' Jg 11", though in the next verse it is ' eom))anion ' as in Ps 45''', its only remaining occurrence. RV has ' comjianion ' in all three places, (h) nzn hdbhrr, Ps 4.')', Kc 4"', Is 44", Ezk 37'"; RV in Ezk 'companion,' as the word is elsewhere tr'' in AV and RV, except Jg 20" (D-ijn ION c^'N|), EV ' knit together as one man ') ; and Aram, forms ij-' Mh/tar, l)n 2'' '* (in v." ' companion ' as RV in all), and n-\in hahhrdh, Dn 7=". (c) n-?v 'dmith, Zee 13' Cn-,-;; 123, FV ' the man that is my fellow'). The word is in form abstract, hence lit. ' the man of my fcllowsliip ' ; but el.sewhere it occurs only in Lv and in the con- crete sense of ' neighbour.'
The Or. words are (a) i) irX-qalov, only once and fem., Bar 6^' 'she reproacheth her fellow' (cf. Jg 1 1" above, where, however, the LXX is avitraiph). The commonest word for ' neighbour ' in NT is 6 T\r)<rlov. (h) iraipo^, Mt 11". (c) ai^to^os, He 1", a quotation from Ps 45', where LXX lias fi. (d) ol vfpl, Three 2«.