Valerius Gratus, and lastly (in the twenty-sixth year of our era), Pontius Pilate[7]--followed each other, and were constantly occupied in extinguishing the volcano which was seething beneath their feet. [Footnote 1: Jos., _Ant._, VIII. v. 1, vii. 1 and 2; Luke iii. 19.] [Footnote 2: Ibid., XVIII. ii. 3, iv. 5, v. 1.] [Footnote 3: Ibid., XVIII. vii. 2.] [Footnote 4: Ibid., XVIII. iv. 6.] [Footnote 5: Ibid., XVII. xii. 2; and _B.J._, II. vii. 3.] [Footnote 6: Orelli, _Inscr. Lat._, No. 3693; Henzen, _Suppl._, No. 7041; _Fasti praenestini_, on the 6th of March, and on the 28th of April (in the _Corpus Inscr. Lat._, i. 314, 317); Borghesi, _Fastes Consulaires_ (yet unedited), in the year 742; R. Bergmann, _De Inscr. Lat. ad. P.S. Quirinium, ut videtur, referenda_ (Berlin, 1851). Cf. Tac., _Ann._, ii. 30, iii. 48; Strabo, XII. vi. 5.] [Footnote 7: Jos., _Ant._, l. XVIII.] Continual seditions, excited by the zealots of Mosaism, did not cease, in fact, to agitate Jerusalem during all this time.[1] The death of the seditious was certain; but death, when the integrity of the Law was in question, was sought with avidity. To overturn the Roman eagle, to destroy the works of art raised by the Herods, in which the Mosaic regulations were not always respected[2]--to rise up against the votive escutcheons put up by the procurators, the inscriptions of which appeared tainted with idolatry[3]--were perpetual temptations to fanatics, who had reached that degree of exaltation which removes all care for life. Judas, son of Sariphea, Matthias, son of Margaloth, two very celebrated doctors of the law, formed against the established order a boldly aggressive party, which continued after their execution.[4] The Samaritans were agitated by movements of a similar nature.[5] The Law had never counted a greater number of impassioned disciples than at this time, when he already lived who, by the full authority of his genius and of his great soul, was about to abrogate it. The "Zelotes" (Kenaim), or "Sicarii," pious assassins, who imposed on themselves the task of killing whoever in their estimation broke the Law, began to appear.[6] Representatives of a totally different spirit, the Thaumaturges, considered as in some sort divine, obtained credence in consequence of the imperious want which the age experienced for the supernatural and the divine.[7] [Footnote 1: Ibid., the books XVI. and XVIII. entirely, and _B.J._, books I. and II.] [Footnote 2: Jos., _Ant._, XV. x. 4. Compare Book of Enoch, xcvii. 13, 14.] [Footnote 3: Philo, _Leg. ad Caium_, Sec. 38.] [Footnote 4: Jos., _Ant._, XVII. vi. 2, and following; _B.J._, I. xxxiii. 3, and following.] [Footnote 5: Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. iv. 1, and following.] [Footnote 6: Mishnah, _Sanhedrim_, ix. 6; John xvi. 2; Jos., _B.J._, book IV., and following.] [Footnote 7: _Acts_ viii. 9. Verse 11 leads us to suppose that Simon the magician was already famous in the time of Jesus.]