Once more Josephus was in great peril. But, as usual, he saved himself by his own ready wit and crafty policy. On the one hand, he would not give up the post which had become dear to him; and, on the other, he did not wish to disobey the orders of the Synhedrion. As soon as the decrees of the Great Council were made known to him, through his father, who was living in Jerusalem, he took his precautionary measures. He pretended to be in active preparation for a revolt from Rome, and perplexed the envoys by the evasive replies he gave them, assuring them, with a resigned air, when they ordered him to depart instantly for Jerusalem, that he was more than ready to lay down his office. But all the while he was inciting the Galilæans to hatred of the envoys, who, in traveling from one town to another, found that they were not furthering their mission, but that, on the contrary, they were often in danger of being roughly handled by Josephus' friends. Weary of this useless journeying, the envoys, on the advice of John of Gischala, sent secret messengers throughout Galilee, declaring Josephus outlawed. A traitor revealed this resolution to the governor. With an energy deserving of a better cause, Josephus sent his troops to guard the passes leading from the Galilæan towns to Jerusalem, and had the messengers seized and brought into his presence. He then summoned all his devoted followers (who came streaming from all the small towns and villages of Galilee) to appear armed before him, and told them he was the victim of a fiendish plot. This was enough to lash them into a frenzy of rage, and they would have torn the envoys to pieces had not Josephus, with wonderfully assumed generosity, quieted their wrath. He then sent for some of the most simple-minded and credulous men of his province whom he easily persuaded into going to Jerusalem, there to extol his government, to entreat of the Synhedrion to leave their beloved governor at his post, and to recall the hated envoys.