A state visit to Caesarea by Herod Agrippa II enabled Festus to canvass his opinion of Paul’s case. Agrippa expressed an interest in hearing Paul, and so it was that Paul made yet another defense. That the story has a historical basis we need not doubt—“The picture of the puzzled Roman official, bewildered by a doctrine of the Resurrection, and seeking advice from a Palestinian princelet, is so naive that it must be true” (Williams, p. 261). Moreover, from the detailed description of the day’s proceedings in 25:23–26:32, it is evident that if Luke was not himself present, then at least he was given the story by someone who was. There is, however, a historical problem with the narrative in 25:13–22. It purports to be a conversation between Festus and Agrippa, and it is hard (but not impossi…