Difference between revisions of "Drusilla"

<p> The fair but loose daughter of [[Herod]] [[Agrippa]] I and [[Cypros]] (Acts 12); sister of Herod Agrippa II; married to Azizus, king of Emesa, on his becoming a Jew; seduced by Felix, procurator of Judea, through [[Simon]] the [[Cyprian]] sorcerer (Josephus, Ant. 20:7, section 2). [[Present]] at Paul's hearing before [[Felix]] at Caesarea. By Felix she had a son, Agrippa, who perished with his mother in the Vesuvian eruption, under Titus. </p>

<p> (Acts 24:24) </p> <p> The youngest of the three daughters of [[Herod]] [[Agrippa]] I. She was but six years old when her father died in a.d. 44 (Jos. <i> [[Ant]] </i> . XIX. ix. 1). He had betrothed her to Epiphanes, son of the king of Commagene. This marriage did not take place, as [[Epiphanes]] refused to undergo the rite of circumcision ( <i> Ant </i> . XX. vii. 1). [[Drusilla]] was given by her brother Agrippa II. to Azizus, king of Emesa. The marriage took place seemingly in a.d. 53. Very shortly afterwards the procurator Felix, who had lately come to [[Judaea]] , met the young queen and was captivated by her charms (‘She did indeed exceed all other women in beauty’ [ <i> Ant </i> . xx. vii. 2]). Employing as his emissary one Simon, a Cypriote, he persuaded her to leave her husband and to join him as his third wife-and third <i> queen </i> (‘trium reginarum maritum,’ writes Suetonius of [[Felix]] [ <i> Claud </i> . xxviii.]). Of this union there was issue a son, who was given the name Agrippa, and of whom [[Josephus]] ( <i> Ant </i> . xx. vii. 2) records incidentally that he and his wife perished in the eruption of [[Vesuvius]] in the reign of the [[Emperor]] Titus, <i> i.e. </i> in a.d. 79. Of Drusilla herself nothing is recorded later than the statement in Acts, which permits us to assume that she was present when St. [[Paul]] had audience of Felix, and used the opportunity to reason ‘of righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment to come.’ </p> <p> G. P. Gould. </p>

<p> '''''droo''''' -'''''sil´a''''' ( Δρούσιλλα , <i> '''''Droúsilla''''' </i> , or Δρουσίλλα , <i> '''''Drousı́lla''''' </i> ): Wife of Felix, a Jewess, who along with her husband "heard (Paul) concerning the faith in [[Christ]] Jesus" during Paul's detention in [[Caesarea]] (Acts 24:24 ). Beta text gives the rendering "Drusilla the wife of Felix, a Jewess, asked to see [[Paul]] and to hear the word." The fact that [[Drusilla]] was a [[Jewess]] explains her curiosity, but Paul, who was probably acquainted with the past history of her and Felix, refused to satisfy their request in the way they desired, and preached to them instead concerning righteousness and self-restraint and the final judgment. At this "Felix was terrified" (Acts 24:25 ). Beta text states that Paul's being left in bonds on the retirement of [[Felix]] was due to the desire of the latter to please Drusilla (compare Acts 24:27 ). [[Probably]] this explanation, besides that of the accepted text, was true also, as Drusilla, who was a member of the ruling house, saw in Paul an enemy of its power, and hated him for his condemnation of her own private sins. </p> <p> The chief other source of information regarding Drusilla is [[Josephus]] Drusilla was the youngest of the three daughters of [[Agrippa]] I, her sisters being [[Bernice]] and Mariamne. She was born about 36 ad and was married when 14 years old to Azizus, king of Emeza. [[Shortly]] afterward she was induced to desert her husband by Felix, who employed a [[Cyprian]] sorcerer, [[Simon]] by name, to carry out his purpose. She was also influenced to take this step by the cruelty of [[Azizus]] and the hatred of Bernice who was jealous of her beauty. Her marriage with Felix took place about 54 ad and by him she had one son, Agrippa, who perished under Titus in an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The mention by Josephus of "the woman" who perished along with Agrippa ( <i> Ant. </i> , XX, vii, 2) refers probably not to his mother Drusilla but to his wife. </p>

<p> (Δρούσιλλα ), youngest daughter of [[Herod]] [[Agrippa]] I by his wife Cypros, and sister of Herod Agrippa II, was only six years old when her father died in AD 44 (Josephus, Ant. 19:9, 1; 20:7, 1 and 2). Being celebrated for her beauty, she had already been promised in marriage to Epiphanies, son of Antiochus, king of Comagene, but the match was broken off in consequence of [[Epiphanes]] refusing to perform his promise of conforming to the [[Jewish]] religion. Hereupon Azizus, king of Edessa, obtained [[Drusilla]] as his wife, and performed the condition of becoming a [[Jew]] (Josephus, Ant. 10:7, 1). [[Afterwards]] Felix, the procurator of Judaea, fell in love with her, and induced her to leave Azizus, a course to which she was prompted not only by the fair promise of Felix, but by a desire to escape the annoyance to which she was subjected by the envy of her sister Berenice, who though ten years older, vied with her in beauty (ib. 2). She though, perhaps, that Felix, whom as accepted as a second husband, would be better able to protect her then Azizus, whom she divorced. In the Acts (24:24) she is mentioned in such a manner that she may naturally be supposed to have been present when [[Paul]] preached before Felix, in A.D. 55. [[Felix]] and Drusilla had a son, Agrippa, who perished in an eruption of [[Vesuvius]] (Josephus, Ant. 19:7; 20:5). Tacitus (Hist. 5:9) says that Felix married Drusilla, a granddaugther of [[Cleopatra]] and Anthony. The Drusilla he refers to, if any such person every existed, must have been a daughter of [[Juba]] and Cleopatra Selene, for the names </p> <p> and fate of all the other descendants of Cleopatra and [[Anthony]] are known from other sources. But the account given by [[Josephus]] of the parentage of Drusilla is more consistent than that of Tacitus with the notice in the Acts, by which it appears that she was a Jewess. Some have supposed that Felix married in succession two Drusillae; and countenance is lent to this otherwise improbable conjecture by an expression of Suetonius (Claud. 28) who calls Felix "the husband of three queens." (See Noldii Hist. Idum. page 464 sq.; Walch, [[De]] Felice, Jen. 1747, page 63 sq.), (See [[Felix]]). </p>