FELIX. RiPti,S), a Roman procurator of Juchea, before whom Paul so reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,' that the judge trembled, saying, Go thy way for this time ; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee' (Acts xxiv. 25). The context states that Felix had expected a bribe from Paul ; and, in order to pro cure this bribe, he appears to have had several in terviews with the apostle. The depravity which such an expectation implies is in agreement with the idea which the historical fragments preserved respecting Felix would lead the student to form of the man.
The year in which Felix entered on his office cannot be strictly determined. From the words of Josephus (Antiq. xx. 7. I), it appears that his ap pointment took place before the twelfth year of the Emperor Claudius. Eusebius fixes the time of his actually undertaking his duties in the eleventh year of that monarch.
Felix was a remarkable instance of the elevation to distinguished station of persons born and bred in the lowest condition. Originally a slave, he rose to little less than kingly power. For some un known, but probably not very creditable services, he was manumitted by Claudius Csar (Sueton. Claud. 28 ; Tacit. Hist. v. 9) ; on which account he is said to have taken the pramomen of Claudius. In Tacitus, however (/oc. cit..), he is surnamed Antonius, probably because he was also a freedman of Antonia, the emperor's mother. He was a brother of Pallas, who had also been set free by Antonia, and had great influence with Claudius ; speaking of whom, in conjunction with another freedman, namely, Narcissus, the imperial private secretary, Suetonius (Claud. 28) says, that the em peror was eager in heaping upon them the highest honours that a subject could enjoy, and suffered them to carry on a system of plunder and gain to such an extent, that, on complaining of the poverty of his exchequer, some one bad the boldness to re mark that he would abound in wealth if he were taken into partnership by his two favourite freed men.
The character which the ancients have left of Felix is of a very dark complexion. Suetomus speaks of the military honours which the emperor loaded him with, and specifies his appointment as governor of the province of Juda (Claud. 28); adding an innuendo, which loses nothing by its brevity, namely, that he was the husband of three queens or royal ladies (trium reginarum maritum). Tacitus, in his (v. 9), declares that, during his governorship in Judwa, he indulged in all kinds of cruelty and lust, exercising regal power with the disposition of a slave ; and, in his Annals (xii. 54), he represents Felix as considering himself licensed to commit any crime, relying on the influence which he possessed at court. The country was ready for rebellion, and the unsuitable remedies which Felix applied served only to inflame the passions and to incite to crime. The contempt which he and Cumanus (who, according to Tacitus, governed Galilee while Felix ruled Samaria ; but see Joseph. Anti xx. 7. I) excited in the minds of the people, encouraged them to give free scope to the passions which arose from the old enmity between the Jews and Samaritans, while the two wily and base pro curators were enriched by booty as if it had been spoils of war. This so far was a pleasant game to these men, but in the prosecution of it Roman soldiers lost their life, and, but for the intervention of Quadratus, governor of Syria, a rebellion would have been inevitable. A court-martial was held to inquire into the causes of this disaffection, when Felix, one of the accused, was seen by the injured Jews among the judges, and even seated on the judgment-seat, placed there by the president, Quadratus, expressly to outface and deter the accusers and witnesses. Josephus (Antiq. xx. 8. 5) reports that under Felix the affairs of the country grew worse and worse. The land was filled with robbers and impostors who deluded the multitude. Felix used his power to repress these disorders to little purpose, since his own example gave no sanction to justice. Thus, having got one Dineas,
leader of a band of assassins, into his hands, by a promise of impunity, he sent him to Rome to receive his punishment. Having a grudge against Jonathan, the high-priest, who had expos. tulated with bim on his misrule, Ile made use of Doras, an intimate friend of Jonathan, in order to get him assassinated by a gang of villains, who joined the crowds that were going up to the temple worship, —a crime which led subsequently to countless evils, by the encouragement which it gave to the Sicarii, or leagued assassins of the, day, to whose excesses Josephus ascribes, under Providence, the overthrow of the Jewish state. Among other crimes, some of these villains misled the people under the promise of performing mi racles, and were punished by Felix. An Euptian impostor, who escaped himself, was the occasion of the loss of life to four hundred followers, and of the loss of liberty to two hundred more, thus severely dealt with by Felix (Joseph. Antiq. xx. 8. 6 ; De Bell. "zid. ii. 13. 5 ; comp. Acts xxi. 38). A serious misunderstanding having arisen between the Jewish and the Syrian inhabitants of Cxsarea, Felix employed his troops, and slew and plun dered till prevailed on to desist. His cruelty in this affair brought on him, after he was superseded by Festus, an accusation at Rome, which, however, he was enabled to render nugatory by the influence which his brother Pallas had, and exercised tc the utmost with the emperor Nero. Josephus, in his Life (sec. iii.), reports that at the time when Felix was procurator of Judaea there were certain priests of my acquaintance, and very excel lent persons they were, whom, on a small and trifling occasion, he had put into bonds and sent to Rome to plead their cause before Cmsar.' While in his office, being inflamed by a passion for the beautiful Drusilla, a daughter of King Herod Agrippa, who was married to Azizus, king of Emesa, lie employed one Simon, a magician, to use his arts in order to persuade her to forsake her husband and marry him, promising that if she would comply with his suit he would make her a happy woman. Drusilla, partly impelled by a desire to avoid the envy of her sister, Bernice, was prevailed on to transgress the laws of her forefathers, and consented to a. union with Felix. In this marriage a son was born, who was named Agrippa : both mother and son perished in an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which took place in the days of Titus Cmsar (Joseph. Antig. xx. 7. 2). With this adulteress was Felix seated when Paul reasoned before the judge, as already stated (Acts xxiv. 24). Another Drusilla is mentioned by Tacitus as being the wife (the first wife) of Felix. This woman was niece of Cleopatra and Antony. By this marriage Felix was connected with Clau dius. Of his third wite nothing is known.
Paul, being apprehended in Jerusalem, was sent by a letter from Claudius Lysias to Felix at Cmsarea, where he was at first confined in Herod's judgment-hall till his accusers came. They ar rived. Tertullus appeared as their spokesman, and had the audacity, in order to conciliate the good-will of Felix, to express gratitude on the part of the Jews, seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence' (Acts xxiii., xxiv.) Paul pleaded his cause in a worthy speech ; and Felix, consigning the Apostle to the custody of a centurion, ordered that he should have such liberty as the circumstances admitted, with permis sion that his acquainiance -might see him and minister to his wants. This imprisonment the Apostle suffered for a period of two years, being left bound when Felix gave place to Festus, as that unjust judge was willing,' not to do what was right, but to shew the Jews a pleasure' (C. W. F Walch, Diss. a'e Felice yid. procur., Jen. 1747). – T. R. B.