Do not think, Titus, that I hold you responsible. On the contrary, I thank you instead of blaming you. Without saying anything against you, I simply ask for the liberty to lament my situation. After having served Rome in all the wars, fate treats me cruelly today. I am convinced that you feel more pain to abandon me than to give up all your victories. I know that ambition is a passion as strong as love, but I believe that in your heart, love prevails. I even want to believe, to console myself in my misfortune, that if you had the choice, you would prefer my company to that of the Roman Empire. But this reason of state, which justifies so many crimes and violence, does not allow the invincible Titus, after risking his life so many times to ensure the well-being of the Romans, to consider his own happiness. I thought that love, when it reigned in a wise heart, inspired even more eagerness to acquire glory. However, I clearly see that neither the emperor nor the Senate shares this opinion, and I was mistaken in my assumptions. If you had chosen someone totally unworthy of you as the object of your love, their complaints would be more tolerable. And I would deserve the treatment I receive if I had transmitted low and shameful feelings to Titus. But, given my rank, people cannot blame you for undertaking an unequal marriage. Alexander the Great, however, did nothing dishonorable when he married Roxana, even though she was a captive, a foreigner, and a mere governor's daughter. This mistake he made out of love did not prevent him from enjoying the fame of his victories or from being ranked among the most glorious heroes.

The fault blamed on you has nothing comparable to this, for I am the granddaughter of Mariamne, and among my ancestors are all the ancient kings of Judea. Moreover, I wear a crown that should prevent the Senate from treating me so cruelly. Yes, Titus, Persia had its own heroes, as glorious as Rome. The Jonathans, Davids, and Solomon, from whom I descend, may have accomplished deeds as great as those of Romulus, Numa Pompilius, and Caesar. The lavish and precious treasures that you took from the Temple in Jerusalem, with which you adorned yourself, have shown Rome the grandeur and magnificence of my ancestors sufficiently. If I came from a lineage hostile to the Republic, like Sophonisba, daughter of Hasdrubal, it would be right to fear that after having defeated the valiant Titus, I would render my victory baleful for the Senate, and incite it to acts contrary to its authority. But I come from a lineage accustomed to receiving crowns from Roman emperors. The great Agrippa, my father, was granted the kingdom of Batanaea and that of Trachonitis out of the generosity of Caligula, just as he received that of Chalcis, the scepter of which I bear today. My brother, Agrippa II, also benefited from the favor of your father the Emperor Vespasian, and his death was proof enough of his worth. It was in your presence that my brother lost his life while attempting to persuade the inhabitants of Gamala to surrender and to acknowledge the authority of Vespasian. Only, instead of consoling me in his loss, I am banished as a criminal. It seems as if I sought to overthrow the Empire.