1. When Tacitus, the Roman historian, records the attempt of Nero to
charge the Christians with the burning of Rome, he has patience for no
more than the cursory remark that the sect originated with a Jew who had
been put to death in Judea during the reign of Tiberius. This province was
small and despised, and Tacitus could account for the influence of the
sect which sprang thence only by the fact that all that was infamous and
abominable flowed into Rome. The Roman's scornful judgment failed to grasp
the nature and power of the movement whose unpopularity invited Nero's
lying accusation, yet it emphasizes the significance of him who did "not
strive, nor cry, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street," whose
influence, nevertheless, was working as leaven throughout the empire.

2. Palestine was not under immediate Roman rule when Jesus was born. Herod
the Great was drawing near the close of the long reign during which, owing
to his skill in securing Roman favor, he had tyrannized over his unwilling
people. His claim was that of an adventurer who had power to succeed, even
as his method had been that of a suspicious tyrant, who murdered right and
left, lest one of the many with better right than he should rise to
dispute with him his throne. When Herod died, his kingdom was divided
into three parts, and Rome asserted a fuller sovereignty, allowing none of
his sons to take his royal title. Herod's successors ruled with a measure
of independence, however, and followed many of their father's ways, though
none of them had his ability. The best of them was Philip, who had the
territory farthest from Jerusalem, and least related to Jewish life. He
ruled over Iturea and Trachonitis, the country to the north and east of
the Sea of Galilee, having his capital at Cæsarea Philippi, a city built
and named by him on the site of an older town near the sources of the
Jordan. He also rebuilt the city of Bethsaida, at the point where the