The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

137 - 145: by the use of these the view of the War was to coincide with the administrative
report. We therefore turn [our attention] now to a consideration of these insertions.
It has already been established (page 60) that Life 130 - 131 to all intents and purposes
has adopted the point of view of the War with respect to the attack of the Dabarittans.
Originally in Life 129 Josephus had specified the refusal of the reward that the Dabarittans
expected as the only reason for the uprising — in revenge they had denounced Josephus as
traitor. In the War, which Agrippa was to read, the assumption of the Dabarittans that Josephus
intended to restore the plunder to Agrippa (596) was added to this as a second reason; in doing
so the author underscores this reason (cf. 596) so that it becomes completely clear to what
risks he has exposed himself for Agrippa’s sake. This idea, for its part, now became the source
for Life 130: the building of Jerusalem’s walls is indeed only a pretext, — so it was rumoured by
the Dabarittans, in order to instigate the uprising against Josephus — in truth, Josephus
intended to return the plunder to “its owner” (page 58). And — thus the author continues
afterwards in section 131 — this was in reality the intention of Josephus, who gave over the
stolen goods for this purpose to Agrippa’s close friends with the order to deliver them to the
king. This last sentence also ties in with the War (596), but at the same time it goes somewhat
beyond; because according to War 596 the money was only deposited in order to give it back
eventually to the king, while here in the Life immediate restitution was to ensue. I would
like to see the reason for this small alteration in [the fact] that the money is required in the
War for the continued narration after 596 as well, because the issue of the building of
Tarichea’s walls — as ἀπάτη — which presumes the availability of the money, is not dealt with
until 609. In the Life, on the other hand, the corresponding (cf. page 72) problem of the building
of Jerusalem’s walls — as σόφισμα — is already settled in 130, the money is [74] thus no longer
required for this narrative after section 131 and Josephus therefore could easily carry his zeal
for Agrippa one step farther here than in the War. Thus the insertion Life 130 - 131 in effect
presents itself to us from all angles as dependent upon the narrative and view of the War. One
may well assume that when Josephus was composing the War on the basis of his administrative
report and suffusing it with a new bias, he at the same time enriched his old manuscript by an
addition that was to bring about an equalization between the two expositions.
Matters stand differently with sections 137 - 145, which we shall discuss in conjunction
with their parallel in War 2.602 - 608. For the sake of brevity, we wish to designate the War in
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