52 PHILO'S POLITICS
even though the physician be a slave, there are times when he must cut
and burn his wealthy master. The people do not like such a governor,
and will frequently put him into prison, but in doing so they injure
only themselves. The governor must fearlessly disregard danger in op
posing the mob, and do what is best for the state without heeding popu
lar prejudice or passion. A Roman who knew anything of the problems
of imperial rulership would at once have felt the force of Philo's argu
ment, and been impressed with the value as a subject of people who
took this point of view toward their governor. For, in spite of his great
arbitrary power, every Roman official in Alexandria had to be ex
tremely sensitive to the attitude taken toward him by his subjects. If the
subjects suddenly began to send complaints to Rome, or broke out in re
volt, his office and his life itself were at once gravely threatened. The
sensitiveness of Pilate as recorded in the Gospels to the demands of the
influential Jews of Palestine was quite typical. The subject people could
hope, if they got rid of one ruler, only to have another sent them. Yet
they had great power over the fate of any individual ruler.
Philo's reference to this very delicate subject is masterfully tactful. ARoman reader would not usually like to be reminded that the Egyptian
mob had it in its power to destroy the prefect, and that so he was their
slave. As Philo alludes to it, the man of great natural endowments and
ruling genius is tragically made the slave of a despicable master. The
implication is that it is a terrible thing that the politicus should have to
consult the mob in any way, and Philo's sympathy seems to be entirely
with him. So he assures the politicus that though he may be thus in the
power of the mob, he must fearlessly cut and burn whenever social sur
gery is necessary. That is, far from taunting the ruler with the mob's
power over him, the ruler is exorted to free himself of the mob as far as
possible. The passage is the subtlest kind of flattery. When it is recalled
that the Alexandrian mob tended perennially to turn against the Jews,
and that the only hope of the Jews lay in a strong, fearless, and impar
tial prefect, the objective of Philo is obvious. He wants the prefect to
know, if, as is not unlikely, the substance of this document was re
ported to him, that the Jews will stand by him in asserting his power
over the Alexandrian mob. And nothing would be more apt to dispose
the prefect to protect the Jews than precisely this assurance.
The next incident from the life of Joseph brings out another of the
characteristics of the ideal king or governor. As soon as Joseph went in