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which → bring → family
In 40CE the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria sailed for Rome on what he believed would be the culminating political mission of his life.
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he → sail → life
He had been chosen to lead an embassy to the emperor Gaius (known today as “Caligula”) on behalf of one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities in the Roman Empire.
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He → choose → Empire
Two years earlier Alexandria had exploded in anti-Jewish violence.
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Alexandria → explode → violence
Synagogues had been desecrated, homes looted, civic rights suspended, and hundreds of Jews subjected to murder and humiliation while the Roman prefect, Aulus Avilius Flaccus, failed (or refused) to restore order.
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prefect → desecrate → order
Philo hoped the emperor would reverse these injustices and prevent their recurrence.
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emperor → hop → recurrence
The embassy had a second purpose that went beyond Alexandria.
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that → have → Alexandria
Jewish communities across the empire were facing growing pressure to recognize the emperor’s divinity by allowing his image in their synagogues and worshiping him, acts forbidden by Jewish law.
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communities → face → law
Philo set out to persuade Gaius that such demands misunderstood the basis of Jewish loyalty.
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demands → set → loyalty
Jews prayed for (rather than to) the emperor, obeyed Roman law, and paid Roman taxes.
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Jews → pray → taxes
Their refusal to worship Gaius did not constitute an act of political rebellion but of religious devotion.
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refusal → worship → devotion
The question placed before the emperor was therefore constitutional rather than religious: could the empire continue to accommodate diverse peoples by respecting their ancestral laws?
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empire → place → laws
Today, the issue might be seen as one of communal autonomy or even “internal sovereignty.”
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issue → see → autonomy
Philo’s Embassy to Gaius conveys the tale of a man gradually discovering that political institutions can persist even after rulers have lost the capacity for the sustained attention upon which judgment depends.
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judgment → convey → which
The decision to undertake the embassy reflected assumptions about politics formed over a lifetime.
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decision → undertake → lifetime
Known today primarily as a philosopher who melded Jewish and Greek thought, Philo was no naïve idealist.
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Philo → know → thought
He was a member of one of Alexandria’s wealthiest and best-connected families.
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He → connect → families
His brother Alexander was among the empire’s richest financiers and cultivated close ties to the imperial household.
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brother → cultivate → household
Philo certainly understood from reading the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) that governors could be corrupt, local politics were often vicious, and justice was almost always imperfect.
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justice → understand → Bible
But he also believed in the constitutional principles of the early Principate and especially that Rome could govern an extraordinarily diverse empire because emperors stood above local factions.
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emperors → believe → factions
Their legitimacy rested not only on military force, but also on their ability to examine competing claims and uphold the legal protections enabling the different ancestral groups within the empire to flourish.
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groups → rest → empire
It also exemplified confidence in a particular ideal of government—one in which rulers could be persuaded and evidence mattered.
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evidence → exemplify → which
Most crucially, political argument remained vital because emperors had the capacity for distinguishing public questions from private passions.
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emperors → remain → passions
As in today’s world, the only real “weapon” of the public intellectual, even one as prominent as Philo, was argument—the faith that knowledge, evidence, and reason can alter the views of those who wield power.
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who → alter → power
But this role depends on a condition that intellectuals and diplomats themselves have no ability to supply: power must be willing to listen.
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power → depend → ability
Rulers may reject or misunderstand an argument, or they may choose interests over principle.
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they → reject → principle
But what happens when power ceases to pay attention at all?
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power → happen → attention
What does the ambassador or public intellectual do when their arguments are sound but no one will listen?
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one → do → What
Philo went to Rome ready for the first problem but was confronted with the second.
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Philo → go → second
When Philo finally obtained an audience with Gaius after months of waiting, he was prepared for complications: delays, interruptions, perhaps even hostility.
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he → obtain → complications
But almost immediately, things went sideways in unexpected ways.
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things → go → ways
The audience did not begin in a council chamber or a tribunal but with Gaius inspecting houses on the Palatine.
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Gaius → begin → Palatine
Philo observes that, “while he was saying this he was going on with his survey of the houses ... and gave orders that they should be made more magnificent.”
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they → observe → orders
Philo’s first response is that the inspection is a temporary distraction before the embassy would really begin.
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embassy → begin → ?
After all, emperors love inspecting buildings, suggesting improvements, and supervising construction.
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emperors → love → construction
However, the embassy never really begins.
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embassy → begin → ?
Philo and his companions scamper along behind the emperor as he continues his inspection.
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he → scamper → inspection
They are tugged along through the emperor’s architectural tour.
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They → tug → tour
The representatives of one of the oldest and largest Jewish communities in the Roman world (by some estimates, the Jewish population of Alexandria comprised twenty percent of the city’s 500,000 inhabitants) follows silently behind the emperor while he critiques floor plans and redesigns rooms.
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he → comprise → rooms
Philo remains unflappable and at this point still behaves as though ordinary politics governs the encounter.
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politics → remain → encounter
…and 81 more, not listed.
The Aporia
