On his fourth visit he was more fortunate, for Florus, who had noted him before, asked why he stood there so patiently.

An officer replied that the man had a petition to make.
"Let me hear it then," said the governor.

"I sit in this place to administer justice by the grace and in the name of Caesar." Accordingly, Caleb was summoned and found himself in the presence of a small, dark-eyed, beetle-browed Roman with cropped hair, who looked what he was--one of the most evil rulers that ever held power in Judaea.
"What do you seek, Jew ?" he asked in a harsh voice.
"What I am assured I shall find at your hands, O most noble Florus, justice against the Jews--pure justice"; words at which the courtiers and guards tittered, and even Florus smiled.
"It is to be had at a price," he replied.
"I am prepared to pay the price." "Then set out your case." So Caleb set it out.

He told how many years before his father had been accidentally slain in a tumult, and how he, the son, being but an infant, certain Jews of the Zealots had seized and divided his estate on the ground that his father was a partisan of the Romans, leaving him, the son, to be brought up by charity--which estate, consisting of tracts of rich lands and certain house property in Jerusalem and Tyre, was still in their possession or in that of their descendants.
The black eyes of Florus glistened as he heard.
"Their names," he said, snatching at his tablets.

But as yet Caleb was not minded to give the names.