Note 241 — Chapter XVII
Reading edition
The Romans were always afraid of Jewish seditions. Seven years before St. Paul's imprisonment there had been a terrible outburst, in which Ananias the high priest had been himself involved, and which led to the despatch of Felix himself as procurator. He had effectually put down all disturbances, which led to the prolongation of his rule in Palestine for the very unusual period of eight years, from 52 to 60 A.D. This accounts for the words of Tertullus (ch. xxiv. 2): "Seeing that by thee we enjoy much peace, and that by thy providence evils are corrected for this nation." See Lewin's Fasti, pp. 296-98, 315, 320; Conybeare and Howson, ch. xxii.; and for the latest authority, Schürer's Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes, i. 477-83, ii. 170 (Leipzig, 1886).