Porcius Festus was the successor of Felix as the Roman governor of Judea, to the duties of which office he was appointed by the Emperor Nero in the first year of his reign. One of his first official acts was hearing the case of the Apostle Paul, who had been left in prison by his predecessor. He was at least not a thoroughly corrupt judge; for when the Jewish hierarchy begged him to send for Paul to Jerusalem, and thus afford an opportunity for his being assassinated on the road, he gave a refusal, promising to investigate the facts at Caesarea, where Paul was in custody, alleging to them, 'it is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him' (). On reaching Caesarea he sent for Paul, heard what he had to say, and, finding that the matters which 'his accusers had against him' were 'questions of their own superstition, and of one Jesus which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive,' he asked the Apostle whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem, and there be tried, since Festus did not feel himself skilled in such an affair. Paul, doubtless because he was unwilling to put himself into the hands of his implacable enemies, requested 'to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus,' and was in consequence kept in custody till Festus had an opportunity to send him to Caesar. Agrippa, however, with his wife Bernice, having come to salute Festus on his new appointment, expressed a desire to see and 'hear the man.' Accordingly Paul was brought before Festus, Agrippa, and Bernice, made a famous speech, and was declared innocent. But having appealed to Caesar, he was sent to Rome.
Festus on coming into Judea found the country infested with robbers, who plundered the villages and set them on fire; the Sicarii also were numerous. Many of both classes were captured, and put to death by Festus. He also sent forces, both of horse and foot, to fall upon those that had been seduced by a certain impostor, who promised them deliverance and freedom from the miseries they were under if they would but follow him as far as the wilderness. These troops destroyed both the impostor and his dupes.
King Agrippa had built himself a splendid dining-room, which was so placed, that, as he reclined at his meals, he commanded a view of what was done in the Temple. The priests, being displeased, erected a wall so as to exclude the monarch's eye. On which Festus took part with Agrippa against the priests, and ordered the wall to be pulled down. The priests appealed to Nero, who suffered the wall to remain, being influenced by his wife Poppæa, 'who was a religious woman.' Festus died shortly afterwards. The manner in which Josephus speaks is favorable to his character as a governor.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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