A.D. 52. VESPASIAN SENT BY CLAUDIUS TO BRITAIN. 145 manner. And he was succeeded by Agrippa, his son, and remained king till the ultimate destruction of the temple. A.D. 45. The twelfth year after the Passion of'our Lord. The blessed Virgin Mary was taken up to heaven by angels. She had lived and remained in the house of the blessed Evangelist St. John, to whom Christ, when on the cross, had recommended her. And the same year, between Thera and Therasia, an island rose out of the deep, being thirty stadia in extent. A.D. 46. The Evangelist Mark, having strengthened the churches throughout Libya, Marmorica, Ammoniaca, Pentapolis, and Alexandria, was at last seized by the heathens, and received the crown of martyrdom at Alexandria. The same year, Paul and Barnabas, having taken upon themselves the Apostleehip, preached to the Gentiles. juD. 47. When Cumanus was procurator of Judea, a great sedition arose at Jerusalem, in the days of unleavened bread ; to such a degree that the people were crowded together at the entrance of the gates, and thirty thousand Jews are said to have been trampled under foot, and suffocated by the pressure. A.D. 48. A census of Rome was taken under Claudius, and there were found to be six millions nine hundred and fortyfour thousand Roman citizens. A.D. 49. Claudius/ the emperor, expelled the Jews from Rome, as they behaved seditiously; a fact which is mentioned by Luke the Evangelist, in the Acts of the Apostles. A.D. 50. The emperor was passing the tenth year of his reign. And in his time a great famine took place throughout Syria ; but Helen, the queen of the Allabeni, who had been converted to the faith o f Christ, supplied him most abundantly for the necessities of the Christians. A.D. 51. There was so great a famine at Rome, that the emperor was attacked with abuse by the populace, in the middle of the forum, and was shamefully pelted with crusts o f bread. A.D. 52. Arviragus, king of Britain, arrived at such a pitch o f pride, that he would not any longer be held in subjection to the Roman power. Therefore Vespasian was sent by Claudius to Britain ; and when he had begun to anchor hie Teasels in the harbour of Sandwich, Arviragus met him, and forbade him to enter the port. But Vespasian, backing his VOL. I. L