He tells in five books what happened to the Jews under Gaius, depicting in detail the madness of Gaius, who proclaimed himself a god and during his reign constantly mocked people. He tells of the misfortunes of the Jews under him, and of his embassy to Rome, whither he was sent to intercede on behalf of his fellow tribesmen of Alexandria; about how, defending the laws of his country before Gaius, he was only maliciously ridiculed in response. He even had reason to fear for his life. 2 These events are also mentioned by Josephus in the eighteenth book of his Antiquities. Here is his verbatim story: "In Alexandria there was a quarrel between the Jews and the Greeks there; three ambassadors were chosen from each side, who appeared before Gaius. 3 From the Alexandrians one of the ambassadors was Apion; he reviled the Jews very much, and among other things said that they did not want to pay homage to Caesar: all the subjects of Rome erected altars and temples to Gaius, and generally addressed him as they did to other gods, and only the Jews thought it shameful to erect statues of him and swear by his name. 4 Apion made many grave accusations, hoping, and not without reason, that Gaius would lose his temper. Philo, the head of the Jewish embassy, a man of renown in every respect, the brother of the Alavarach Alexander, well acquainted with philosophy, wanted to come forward and refute these accusations, but Gaius forbade him and ordered him to go away; he was in great anger and clearly intended to deal cruelly with the ambassadors. 5 Philo went out, heaped with insults, and advised the Jews who were with him to take courage: Gaius, being angry with them, was preparing for himself God's punishment

(6) Thus Joseph relates. And Philo himself, in a book which he entitled "The Embassy," describes in detail and carefully everything that happened to him at that time. I omit the greater part of his narrative, and will quote only what the reader can clearly see from which all that soon happened to the Jews, both then and after, befell them for their transgression against Christ.

7 Philo first tells us that in the time of Tiberius a certain Sejanus, the mightiest man of the emperor's entourage, took every effort to exterminate the whole tribe in Rome. In Judea, Pilate (in whose presence a crime against the Saviour was committed) tried to commit in the temple - he was still standing in his place - something forbidden for the Jews and caused great agitation among them.

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After the death of Tiberius, Gaius received power; He mocked many and many in different ways, but he inflicted the most grievous offense on the Jewish tribe. This can be briefly learned from Philo, who writes verbatim as follows:

2 "There was something uneven and strange about Gaius' attitude towards everyone, and especially towards the Jewish race. He hated the Jews bitterly; he declared the houses of worship in all the cities, beginning with Alexandria, his property, filled them with statues and images of himself (he allowed others to erect them, but he himself erected them with violence). The temple in the holy city, which remained inviolable for the time being and enjoyed all the rights of refuge, he remade in his own way and turned into his own, personal sanctuary, which was called the temple of Zeus the Newly-appeared - Gaius.

3 The same writer, in the second book of his work, entitled On the Virtues, tells of the innumerable grievous and indescribable calamities which befell the Jews of Alexandria under the same Gaius. Joseph echoes him, noting that misfortunes have befallen all the people since the time of Pilate, when the crime against our Saviour was committed. (4) Listen to his verbatim account in the second book of the Jewish War.

"Pilate, whom Tiberius had appointed procurator of Judea, brought into Jerusalem by night the images of Caesar wrapped in linen; they are called banners. In the morning there was great confusion among the Jews; coming closer, they were horrified by what they saw: their laws were trampled upon, which did not allow any images to be erected in the city."

5 If you compare this account with the Gospel, you will see how soon the outcry with which they burst out before Pilate turned against them, saying that they had no king but Caesar. 6 Then the same writer tells of another misfortune that befell them.

"After this, Pilate caused a new disturbance by taking the sacred treasury (it is called "corban") for the construction of a water supply system (the water was 300 stadia away). The Jews were indignant, and when Pilate arrived in Jerusalem, they surrounded him with shouts (7) Pilate foresaw this indignation and placed armed soldiers in the crowd, dressed in ordinary clothes; he forbade the use of swords, and ordered those who shouted to be beaten with sticks at a sign that he would give from his seat. Many of the beaten died from the blows, many were trampled down in flight by their own people. The crowd, frightened by the fate of the dead, fell silent."

4 He also tells of many disturbances and upheavals in Jerusalem itself; according to him, from that time on, both the city and all Judea knew no rest: rebellions, wars, atrocities followed one another continuously, and finally, the siege of Vespasian, which destroyed the city. Thus struck the Jews with God's judgment for their crime against Christ.

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It is worth noting that the same Pilate, who lived in the time of the Savior, according to tradition, fell into such troubles under the emperor Gaius that he was forced to commit suicide and punish himself with his own hand: God's judgment, apparently, was not slow to overtake him. This is told by Greek writers who commemorated the Olympics and the events that took place in each of them.

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