At her private retreat, La Malmaison, near Paris, which she had beautified with curios and rare plants and flowers, Josephine closed her life in dignified retirement. Napoleon more than once came to consult her upon matters in which he valued her tact and good sense. Her health declined early in 1814, and after his first abdication (April 11, 1814) it was clear that her end was not far off. The emperor Alexander of Russia and Frederick William III. of Prussia, then in Paris, requested an interview with her. She died on the 24th of May 1814. Her friends, Mme de Rémusat and others, pointed out that Napoleon's good fortune deserted him after the divorce; and it is certain that the Austrian marriage clogged him in several ways. Josephine's influence was used on behalf of peace and moderation both in internal and in foreign affairs. Thus she begged Napoleon not to execute the duc d'Enghien and not to embroil himself in Spanish affairs in 1808. See M. A. Le Normand, _Mémoires historiques et secrets de Joséphine_ (2 vols., 1820); _Lettres de Napoléon à Joséphine_ (1833); J. A. Aubenas, _Hist. de l'impératrice Joséphine_ (2 vols., 1858-1859); J. Turquan, _L'Impératrice Joséphine_ (2 vols., 1895-1896); F. Masson, _Joséphine_ (3 vols., 1899-1902); _Napoleon's Letters to Josephine_ (1796-1812), translated and edited by H. F. Hall (1903). Also the _Memoirs of_ Mme. de Rémusat and of Bausset, and P. W. Sergeant, _The Empress Josephine_ (1908). (J. Hl. R.) JOSEPHUS, FLAVIUS (c. 37-c. 95?), Jewish historian and military commander, was born in the first year of Caligula (37-38). His father belonged to one of the noblest priestly families, and through his mother he claimed descent from the Asmonaean high priest Jonathan. A precocious student of the Law, he made trial of the three sects of Judaism--Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes--before he reached the age of nineteen. Then, having spent three years in the desert with the hermit Banus, who was presumably an Essene, he became a Pharisee. In 64 he went to Rome to intercede on behalf of some priests, his friends, whom the procurator Felix had sent to render account to Caesar for some insignificant offence. Making friends with Alityrus, a Jewish actor, who was a favourite of Nero, Josephus obtained an introduction to the empress Poppaea and effected his purpose by her help. His visit to Rome enabled him to speak from personal experience of the power of the Empire, when he expostulated with the revolutionary Jews on his return to Palestine. But they refused to listen; and he, with all the Jews who did not fly the country, was dragged into the great rebellion of 66. In company with two other priests, Josephus was sent to Galilee under orders (he says) to persuade the ill-affected to lay down their arms and return to the Roman allegiance, which the Jewish aristocracy had not yet renounced. Having sent his two companions back to Jerusalem, he