It was about the twenty-sixth year of our epoch that Pontius Pilate was nominated to the government of Judea. Ignorant or indifferent as to the prejudices of the Jews, he roused among them a spirit of the most active resentment, by displaying the image of the emperor in Jerusalem, and by seizing part of their sacred treasure for the purposes of general improvement. As the fiery temper of the inhabitants drove them, on most occasions, to acts of violence, he did not hesitate to employ force in return; and we find, accordingly, that his administration was dishonoured by several acts of military execution directed against Jews and Samaritans indiscriminately. His severity towards the latter people finally led to his recall and disgrace about the year 36, when Vitellius, the father of the future emperor of the same name, presided over the affairs of the Syrian province. The plan of our work does not permit us to do more than allude to the great event which took place at Jerusalem under the auspices of Pilate. We may nevertheless observe, that the narrative of the gospel is in strict harmony with the character, not only of the time to which it refers, but also of all the persons whose acts it describes. The expectation of the Jews when Jesus of Nazareth first appeared,--their subsequent disappointment and rage--their hatred and impatience of the Roman government,--the perplexity of the military chief, and the motive which at length induced him to sacrifice the innocent person who was listed before him, are facts which display the most perfect accordance with the tone of civil history at that remarkable period. During the troubles which agitated Judea, the districts that owned the sovereignty of Antipas and Philip, namely, Galilee and the country beyond the Jordan, enjoyed comparative quiet. The former, who is the Herod described by our Saviour as "that fox," was a person of a cool and rather crafty disposition, and might have terminated his long reign in peace, had not Herodias, whom he seduced from his brother--the second prince just mentioned--irritated his ambition by pointing to the superior rank of his nephew, Herod Agrippa, whom Caligula had been pleased to raise to a provincial throne. Urged by his wife to solicit a similar elevation, he presented himself at Rome, and obtained an audience of the emperor; but the successor of Tiberius was so little pleased with his conduct on this occasion, that he divested him of the tetrarchy, and banished him into Gaul.