Gratus

a soldier of Caligula's body-guard, who, after the assassination of that emperor, discovered and drew Claudius from his hiding-place in the palace, and presented him to the soldiers as a Germanicus, the proper heir to the empire. (J. AJ 19.3.1; comp. Suet. Cl. 10; Dio Cass. lx. ].) [W.B.D]

[Fronto, Julius.]

procurator of Judaea from A. D. 15 to A. D. 27, and the immediate predecessor of Pontius Pilate. (J. AJ 18.6 § 5.) The government of Gratus is chiefly remarkable for the frequent changes he made in the appointment of the high-priesthood. He deposed Ananus, and substituted Ismael, son of Fabi, then Eleazar, son of Ananus, then Simon, son of Camith, and lastly Joseph Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Ananus. (Id. Antiq. 18.2.2.) He put down two formidable bands of robbers that infested Judaea during his government, and killed with his own hand the captain of one of them, Simon, formerly a slave of Herod the Great. (Id. Antiq. 17.0.6, 7; B. J. 2.4.2, 3.) Gratus assisted the proconsul Quintilius Varus in quelling an insurrection of the Jews. (B. J. 2.5.2.) [W.B.D]