Other references to the feet are derived from Oriental customs. The sandals are removed in holy places (Ac 7^^), as before entering the mosque of to-day. The removal of the master's sandals is a slave's work (13-^). To wash the dusty feet of guests is a rite of hospitality (cf. Lk 1**, Jn IS'*'-), and the habit of rendering such service to the 'saints' is mentioned amongst the qualifications of 'widows' (1 Ti 5^° ; see art. Widow). Since the Jewish teacher taught whilst sitting, with his scholars at a lower level around him, St. Paul can say literally that he Avas ' brought up at the feet of Gamaliel' (Ac 22^). Contributions to the common fund are laid at tlie feet of the apostles, who are thus represented sitting as teachers (4^^ ; see Holtz- mann, ad loc. ). The clothes of the ' witnesses ' who stoned Stephen Avere laid at the feet of Saul, already prominent against the new sect (7^^). The Oriental habit of prostration before the feet of a superior, in fear or reverence, is illustrated by Sapphira (5^»), Cornelius (10^8), John (Rev V igi" 22* ; cf. 3^ ; Hermas, Vis. III. ii, 3). The ancient custom according to which the victor literally trampled the conquered under his feet (Jos 10'^ and the monuments), to register and confirm the conquest, accounts for the frequent phrase ' under the feet,' to denote subjugation (1 Co 15-'-", Eph 1--, He 2^, Ro 16"" ; cf. Rev 10^ 12i). In the spirit of dramatic symbolism, Agabus {q.v.) bound his hands and feet with St. Paul's girdle, to prophesy the Apostle's coming bondage (Ac 21"). St. Paul and Barnabas shook off the dust of their feet against Pisidian Antioch (13^1; cf, Mt W*) in token of complete separation from its doom.
H. Wheeler Robinson.
FELIX (Ac 23-*^-).—A freedman, and a brother of Pallas, Felix was the favourite of the Emperor Claudius. Tacitus {Hist. v. 9) calls him ' Antonius Felix.' Of his public life prior to his appoint- ment to his procuratorship in Palestine, nothing is known ; of his private life, only that he had married a granddaughter of Antony and Cleopatra, whom Tacitus (loc. cit.) calls Drusilla, confusing her, no doubt, with the Jewish princess with whom Felix allied himself later. Suetonius knows of yet another marriage — also to a princess {Claud. 28).
Josephus and Tacitus are at variance as to the time and circumstance of the sending of Felix to Palestine. According to Josephus {BJ ii. 12 ; Ant. XX. 6f. ), Felix was appointed to succeed the procurator Cumanus, when the latter was con- demned and banished for his misrule. According
to Tacitus {Ann. xii. 54), Cumanus and Felix were contemporaneously procurators, the one of Galilee, the other of Samaria. It seems reasonable to follow Schiirer {HJP I. ii. [1890] 174) in giving preference in this matter to ' the very detailed narrative of Josephus.' This fixes the arrival of Felix in Palestine in A.D. 52, or early in the following year.
The historians are entirely at one in their esti- mate of Felix and of the manner in which he exercised his functions. His countryman Tacitus {Hist. v. 9) describes him as using 'the powers of a king with the disposition of a slave,' and says {Ann. xii. 54) 'he deemed that he might perpetrate any ill deeds with impunity.' Under his govern- ment the state of Palestine grew rapidly worse. If there had been occasional disorders under Cumanus, ' under Felix rebellion became perma- nent.' The boundless cruelty with which he re- pressed the more open opposition of the ' Zealots ' to the Roman rule stimulated the formation of the secret associations of the 'Assassins ' {Sicarii), whose hand was against all — Jew not less than Roman — who did not further their designs. Not less significant of the misery of the people was their readiness to answer the call of religious fanatics like ' the Egyptian ' mentioned in Ac 21^, whom Josephus {BJ II. xiii. 5) credits with a following of thirty thousand. In any such movement Felix suspected ' the beginning of a revolt,' and adopted measures which only served to increase the popular disaffection. For the intrigue by which he pos- sessed himself of the youngest daughter of Herod Agrippa I. — the newly wedded wife of King Azizus of Emesa — see art. Drusilla.
The cynical disregard of Felix for justice, and his inordinate greed are alike brought to view in his treatment of the Apostle Paul. Although possessed of information 'concerning the Way,' which would have justified him in releasing the prisoner when he was first brought before him, he decided to adjourn the case indefinitely (Ac 24-^), partly to curry favour with the Jews, and partly to serve his own rapacious ends. The interview with the Apostle recorded in Ac 24^ was probably intended by the procurator and his wife to be somewhat of a diversion — it ended for Felix in terror. He had frequent communings with St. Paul during^ the time he detained him as his prisoner at Cfesarea ; but seemingly on these later occasions Felix kept control of the conversation and directed it, though unavailingly, towards his mercenary aim.
Tw^o years after St. Paul was brought to Csesarea, Felix was recalled to Rome in connexion with a strife which had broken out at Ca^sarea between the Jews and the Syrians in that town — the Jews asserting for themselves certain exclusive rights, which the others denied. The matter was referred to the Emperor. The investigation proved so damaging to Felix that ' he had certainly been brought to punishment, unless Nero had yielded to the importunate solicitations of his brother Pallas ' (Jos. Ant. XX. viii. 9).