This controversy cost more than one dissertation. But after seriously considering the strength of the arguments produced by both parties; I am of opinion, that the words of saint Matthew may be reconciled with the account given by saint Luke from saint Peter’s speech, in this manner. When that most unhappy traitor saw that Christ was condemned to death, he began to repent of his deed; and being thereupon wreck’d with grief and despair, or seized with the swimming in the head (which often happens in such cases) he fell headlong down some precipice; or, which is more probable, he designedly threw himself down, and his body chancing to pitch on some large stone or stump of a tree, his bowels burst forth, and he was killed. Wherefore Matthew declared his tortures of mind, which made him destroy himself; but Luke has clearly and properly determined the manner of his death. Thus this kind of death ought, with good reason, to find a place in the list of diseases, upon account of the real disorder of the mind. CHAPTER XV. _The disease of king Herod._ The disease with which Herod Agrippa is said to have been smitten, by the just judgment of God, in punishment for his pride and of which he died, is remarkable. For he finished his miserable life σκωληκόβρωτος, that is, _eaten by worms_, as the sacred historian relates, in these words, “Upon a set day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them: and the people gave a shout, saying, it is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory; and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the[146] ghost.” Josephus indeed, in his account of the fact, makes no mention of worms, but says that he was suddenly seized with violent gripings, and after being incessantly tortured with pains in his bowels for five days, he expired.[147] But saint Luke has informed us, that the worms, by which his bowels were eroded, were the cause of the gripes. [146] _Acts, Chap. xii. v. 21-23._ [147] _Antiq. jud. Lib. xix. Cap. viii. §. 2._