2. Agrippa l., son of Aristobulus, Herod the Great's son by the Hasmonaean Mariamne. After his father's execution in 7 B.C. he was sent to Rome with his mother Bernice, and lived on terms of intimacy with the Imperial family. In A.D. 23 his intrigues and extravagances had brought him to such straits that he was forced to retire to the Idumaean stronghold of Malatha till he found an asj'^lum with Antipas in Galilee. Evading his creditors, he returned to Rome in A.D. 36, and shortly afterwards was committed to prison for an incautious remark that had reached the ears of Tiberius. There he lay till the following year, when the death of the old Emperor and the acces- sion of his friend Caius (Caligula) restored him to freedom and fortune. The new Emperor bestowed on him the eastern tetrarchy of his half-uncle Philip, which had been vacant for three years, with the title of king, and added to it Abilene, the former tetrarchy of Lysanias in north-eastern Palestine (Lk 3') ; at the same time he commanded the Senate to decree him prnetorian honours, and gave him a golden chain of the same weight and pattern as that which he bad worn in his captivity. A few years later the tetrarchy of the exiled Antipas was also conferred on him ; and in A.D. 41 Claudius, on his succession to the throne, still further enlarged his possessions with the gift of Samaria and Judaja, and raised him to consular ranU. In the splendour of his good fortune Agrippa did not forget his Jewish coimtrymen, but fitfully at least, and prob- ably from motives of policy, exerted his influence
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at the Roman conrt to mitigate the wrongs and restrictions entailed on them by their religion. On assuming the government of his new dominions — greater than Jewish king ever possessed — he set himself to observe the laws of his country and the practices of the Jewish faith (Jos. A7it. XIX. vii.). During his three years of rule, he showed himself sagacious, liberal, and humane ; though, in his desire to propitiate the Pharisaic element among his subjects, he raised his hand against the followers of Christ, killed James with the sword, and would have sacrihced Peter also, had he not miraculously escaped (Ac 12'-'8). ' He saw it pleased the Jews ' is the explanation given of this severity in Acts (12^), and there is no reason to doubt its substantial accuracy. The end came to Agrippa with tragic suddenness in A.D. 44, when his glory was at its height. Between the account of his death given in Acts (12-**--2) and that of Josephus {Ant. XIX. viii.) there is no more inconsistency than might have been expected from the different circles in which they originated. The latter is more detailed, and yet omits to mention the deputation from Tyre and Sidon who sought reconciliation with King Agrippa through the good offices of his chamberlain. According to Josephus, the occasion of Agrippa's display at Caesarea was a series of games in honour of Claudius ; no angel of the Lord smote him, but an owl appeared as a portent before the fatal seizure ; he was carried to his palace, and lingered in agony for five days. There is nothing about his having been ' eaten of worms,' which may have been only a descriptive phrase commonly used of the death of tyrants (2 Mac 9"). Both accounts, however, suggest the interposition of a higher, avenging hand in the sudden death of the king.
3. Agrippa II., son of Agrippa I. and Cypros, the daughter of Phasael, a son-in-law of Herod the Great. At the time of his father's death, he was resident in Rome, and only seventeen years of age. Disposed at first to gi-ant him the succession to the Jewish kingdom, Claudius allowed himself to be dissuaded by his ministers, and re-transformed it into a Roman province. Detaining Agrippa in Rome, the Emperor compensated him six years afterwards for the loss of his paternal inheritance by giving him his uncle Herod's kingdom of Chalcis, as well as the rights, which Herod had possessed, of supervising the Temple and choosing the high priest. A year before his death, Claudius allowed Agrippa to exchange the meagre principality of Chalcis for those parts of his father's dominions, east and north-east of the Sea of Galilee, which had formerly been the tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias (Batansea, Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, and Abila). In a.d. 56 Xero, who had meanwhile succeeded to the throne and expected his aid against the Parthians, added to his kingdom the regions of Tiberias and Taricheas, with Julias, a city of Peraea, and fourteen villages in its vicinity. Agrippa showed his gratitude by changing the name of his capital from Csesarea Philippi to Nero- nias, in honour of the Emperor, on whose birthday also he had Greek plays annually performed in a theatre which he erected at Berj'tus. Precluded by his position from independent political action, he contented himself with adorning his cities and conserving his possessions. A Roman at heart, and devoted by education and circumstances to the Roman influence, he endeavoured to bring the customs of his people into conformity with those of the Gentiles. At the same time, he evinced an occasional interest in the Jewish religion, and sought to win over the Pharisees to his projects. In the final struggle between the Jews and Rome, which he did his utmost to avert, he maintained his loyalty to the Imperial power, and at the close