tower Antonia, exactly agrees to the place of the same pool at
this day; only the remaining cloisters are but three. See
Maundrel, p. 106. The entire buildings seem to have been called
the New City, and this part, where was the hospital, peculiarly
Bezetha or Bethesda. See ch. 19. sect. 4.

(24) In this speech of king Agrippa we have an authentic account
of the extent and strength of the Roman empire when the Jewish
war began. And this speech with other circumstances in Josephus,
demonstrate how wise and how great a person Agrippa was, and why
Josephus elsewhere calls him a most wonderful or admirable man,
Contr. Ap. I. 9. He is the same Agrippa who said to Paul," Almost
thou persuadest me to be a Christian," Acts 26;28; and of whom
St. Paul said, "He was expert in all the customs and questions of
the Jews," yet. 3. See another intimation of the limits of the
same Roman empire, Of the War, B. III. ch. 5. sect. 7. But what
seems to me very remarkable here is this, that when Josephus, in
imitation of the Greeks and Romans, for whose use he wrote his
Antiquities, did himself frequently he into their they appear, by
the politeness of their composition, and their flights of
oratory, to be not the real speeches of the persons concerned,
who usually were no orators, but of his own elegant composure,
the speech before us is of another nature, full of undeniable
facts, and composed in a plain and unartful, but moving way; so
it appears to be king Agrippa's own speech, and to have been
given Josephus by Agrippa himself, with whom Josephus had the
greatest friendship. Nor may we omit Agrippa's constant doctrine
here, that this vast Roman empire was raised and supported by
Divine Providence, and that therefore it was in vain for the
Jews, or any others, to think of destroying it. Nor may we