Note 202 — VI. THE LATER HERODS
H. St. J. (Henry St. John) Thackeray translation
The reference is to an incident in the earlier life of Agrippa, when a prisoner at Rome under Tiberius. A fellow-prisoner, a German, seeing an owl sitting on a tree against which Agrippa was leaning, had foretold his rise to power, adding a warning: “Remember when you see this bird again, you will have but five days to live” (Ant. XVIII. 6. 7). Eusebius, in citing the present passage (H.E. II. 10), omits the words “the owl” and “on a rope,” writing “saw an angel sitting above his head,” no doubt under the influence of Acts xii. 23 (ἄγγελος Κυρίου).