ABSTRACT
Agrippa’s speech to the assembled multitude in Jerusalem represents the high point of his career, from the perspective of Josephus. It also marks the point of no return from peace to war. The gist of Agrippa’s speech is that a call to arms by the Jews would be futile due to the invincibility of Rome and, in any case, could not be justified. This address is either an invention of Josephus or was a reworking by him of an account rendered by Agrippa of what the king actually said. Undoubtedly, Agrippa seriously misjudged the mood of his audience by failing to heed their plea to intercede to remove the oppressive governor of Judaea, Gessius Florus. Events moved quickly towards armed conflict.
