A Római Birodalom jellemzése II. Agrippa beszédében. Flavius Iosephus: A zsidó háború II. 16.4. (345–401)
The Roman Empire in the Speech of Agrippa II

Summary/Abstract: Flavius Iosephus inserted an advisory speech into the second book of his Jewish War. The long suasoria was harangued by Marcus Julius Agrippa II, the client king of Judea, who pretended to dissuade his fellow-countrymen from launching a war against the occupying Roman forces. He tried to convince the Jews that a mutiny against Rome is absolutely hopeless and impossible. The major part of his argumentation is an overview of the Roman Empire in AD 66: he takes into account the nine macro-regions of the imperium Romanum from East to West (Asia Minor, Anatolia, Bosporus; Thrace; Dalmatia; Gaul; Spain; Germany; Britain; Africa; Egypt) from different point of views: e.g. size of population, economic strength, natural protection etc. Josephus/Agrippa aimed to demonstrate that Rome is invincible, she practically rules the whole world, and the nations subjugated to her power, willingly obey. This rose-tinted view, of course, was deliberately distorted and far from truth. Nevertheless, in Agrippa’s speech we do not find the usual topics of laus imperii, therefore this picture of the Roman Empire can be certainly described as more ‘realistic’ than ‘optimistic’. For example, Iosephus/Agrippa openly says that the nations conquered by the Romans commuted their former freedom to slavery. Thus, he does not deny that Rome enslaves the nations, all he wants is to persuade the Jews that this is not only a ‘historical necessity’, but it is in accordance with the plan of God.

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