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1.(1) WHEREAS the war which the Jews made with the Romans hath been the greatest of all those, not only that have been in our times, but, in a manner, of those that ever were heard of; both of those wherein cities have fought against cities, or nations against nations; while some men who were not concerned in the affairs themselves have gotten together vain and contradictory stories by hearsay, and have written them down after a sophistical manner; and while those that were there present have given false accounts of things, and this either out of a humor of flattery to the Romans, or of hatred towards the Jews; and while their writings contain sometimes accusations, and sometimes encomiums, but no where the accurate truth of the facts; I have proposed to myself, for the sake of such as live under the government of the Romans, to translate those books into the Greek tongue, which I formerly composed in the language of our country, and sent to the Upper Barbarians;(2) Joseph, the son of Matthias, by birth a Hebrew, a priest also, and one who at first fought against the Romans myself, and was forced to be present at what was done afterwards, [am the author of this work].

2. Now at the time when this great concussion of affairs happened, the affairs of the Romans were themselves in great disorder. Those Jews also who were for innovations, then arose when the times were disturbed; they were also in a flourishing condition for strength and riches, insomuch that the affairs of the East were then exceeding tumultuous, while some hoped for gain, and others were afraid of loss in such troubles; for the Jews hoped that all of their nation which were beyond Euphrates would have raised an insurrection together with them. The Gauls also, in the neighborhood of the Romans, were in motion, and the Geltin were not quiet; but all was in disorder after the death of Nero. And the opportunity now offered induced many to aim at the royal power; and the soldiery affected change, out of the hopes of getting money. I thought it therefore an absurd thing to see the truth falsified in affairs of such great consequence, and to take no notice of it; but to suffer those Greeks and Romans that were not in the wars to be ignorant of these things, and to read either flatteries or fictions, while the Parthians, and the Babylonians, and the remotest Arabians, and those of our nation beyond Euphrates, with the Adiabeni, by my means, knew accurately both whence the war begun, what miseries it brought upon us, and after what manner it ended.

3. It is true, these writers have the confidence to call their accounts histories; wherein yet they seem to me to fail of their own purpose, as well as to relate nothing that is sound. For they have a mind to demonstrate the greatness of the Romans, while they still diminish and lessen the actions of the Jews, as not discerning how it cannot be that those must appear to be great who have only conquered those that were little. Nor are they ashamed to overlook the length of the war, the multitude of the Roman forces who so greatly suffered in it, or the might of the commanders, whose great labors about Jerusalem will be deemed inglorious, if what they achieved be reckoned but a small matter.

4. However, I will not go to the other extreme, out of opposition to those men who extol the Romans nor will I determine to raise the actions of my countrymen too high; but I will prosecute the actions of both parties with accuracy. Yet shall I suit my language to the passions I am under, as to the affairs I describe, and must be allowed to indulge some lamentations upon the miseries undergone by my own country. For that it was a seditious temper of our own that destroyed it, and that they were the tyrants among the Jews who brought the Roman power upon us, who unwillingly attacked us, and occasioned the burning of our holy temple, Titus Caesar, who destroyed it, is himself a witness, who, daring the entire war, pitied the people who were kept under by the seditious, and did often voluntarily delay the taking of the city, and allowed time to the siege, in order to let the authors have opportunity for repentance. But if any one makes an unjust accusation against us, when we speak so passionately about the tyrants, or the robbers, or sorely bewail the misfortunes of our country, let him indulge my affections herein, though it be contrary to the rules for writing history; because it had so come to pass, that our city Jerusalem had arrived at a higher degree of felicity than any other city under the Roman government, and yet at last fell into the sorest of calamities again. Accordingly, it appears to me that the misfortunes of all men, from the beginning of the world, if they be compared to these of the Jews(3) are not so considerable as they were; while the authors of them were not foreigners neither. This makes it impossible for me to contain my lamentations. But if any one be inflexible in his censures of me, let him attribute the facts themselves to the historical part, and the lamentations to the writer himself only.

5. However, I may justly blame the learned men among the Greeks, who, when such great actions have been done in their own times, which, upon the comparison, quite eclipse the old wars, do yet sit as judges of those affairs, and pass bitter censures upon the labors of the best writers of antiquity; which moderns, although they may be superior to the old writers in eloquence, yet are they inferior to them in the execution of what they intended to do. While these also write new histories about the Assyrians and Medes, as if the ancient writers had not described their affairs as they ought to have done; although these be as far inferior to them in abilities as they are different in their notions from them. For of old every one took upon them to write what happened in his own time; where their immediate concern in the actions made their promises of value; and where it must be reproachful to write lies, when they must be known by the readers to be such. But then, an undertaking to preserve the memory Of what hath not been before recorded, and to represent the affairs of one's own time to those that come afterwards, is really worthy of praise and commendation. Now he is to be esteemed to have taken good pains in earnest, not who does no more than change the disposition and order of other men's works, but he who not only relates what had not been related before, but composes an entire body of history of his own: accordingly, I have been at great charges, and have taken very great pains [about this history], though I be a foreigner; and do dedicate this work, as a memorial of great actions, both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians. But for some of our own principal men, their mouths are wide open, and their tongues loosed presently, for gain and law-suits, but quite muzzled up when they are to write history, where they must speak truth and gather facts together with a great deal of pains; and so they leave the writing such histories to weaker people, and to such as are not acquainted with the actions of princes. Yet shall the real truth of historical facts be preferred by us, how much soever it be neglected among the Greek historians.

6. To write concerning the Antiquities of the Jews, who they were [originally], and how they revolted from the Egyptians, and what country they traveled over, and what countries they seized upon afterward, and how they were removed out of them, I think this not to be a fit opportunity, and, on other accounts, also superfluous; and this because many Jews before me have composed the histories of our ancestors very exactly; as have some of the Greeks done it also, and have translated our histories into their own tongue, and have not much mistaken the truth in their histories. But then, where the writers of these affairs and our prophets leave off, thence shall I take my rise, and begin my history. Now as to what concerns that war which happened in my own time, I will go over it very largely, and with all the diligence I am able; but for what preceded mine own age, that I shall run over briefly.

7. [For example, I shall relate] how Antiochus, who was named Epiphanes, took Jerusalem by force, and held it three years and three months, and was then ejected out of the country by the sons of Asamoneus: after that, how their posterity quarreled about the government, and brought upon their settlement the Romans and Pompey; how Herod also, the son of Antipater, dissolved their government, and brought Sosins upon them; as also how our people made a sedition upon Herod's death, while Augustus was the Roman emperor, and Quintilius Varus was in that country; and how the war broke out in the twelfth year of Nero, with what happened to Cestius; and what places the Jews assaulted in a hostile manner in the first sallies of the war.

8. As also [I shall relate] how they built walls about the neighboring cities; and how Nero, upon Cestius's defeat, was in fear of the entire event of the war, and thereupon made Vespasian general in this war; and how this Vespasian, with the elder of his sons(4) made an expedition into the country of Judea; what was the number of the Roman army that he made use of; and how many of his auxiliaries were cut off in all Galilee; and how he took some of its cities entirely, and by force, and others of them by treaty, and on terms. Now, when I am come so far, I shall describe the good order of the Romans in war, and the discipline of their legions; the amplitude of both the Galilees, with its nature, and the limits of Judea. And, besides this, I shall particularly go over what is peculiar to the country, the lakes and fountains that are in them, and what miseries happened to every city as they were taken; and all this with accuracy, as I saw the things done, or suffered in them. For I shall not conceal any of the calamities I myself endured, since I shall relate them to such as know the truth of them.

9. After this, [I shall relate] how, When the Jews' affairs were become very bad, Nero died, and Vespasian, when he was going to attack Jerusalem, was called back to take the government upon him; what signs happened to him relating to his gaining that government, and what mutations of government then happened at Rome, and how he was unwillingly made emperor by his soldiers; and how, upon his departure to Egypt, to take upon him the government of the empire, the affairs of the Jews became very tumultuous; as also how the tyrants rose up against them, and fell into dissensions among themselves.

10. Moreover, [I shall relate] how Titus marched out of Egypt into Judea the second time; as also how, and where, and how many forces he got together; and in what state the city was, by the means of the seditious, at his coming; what attacks he made, and how many ramparts he cast up; of the three walls that encompassed the city, and of their measures; of the strength of the city, and the structure of the temple and holy house; and besides, the measures of those edifices, and of the altar, and all accurately determined. A description also of certain of their festivals, and seven purifications of purity,(5) and the sacred ministrations of the priests, with the garments of the priests, and of the high priests; and of the nature of the most holy place of the temple; without concealing any thing, or adding any thing to the known truth of things.

11. After this, I shall relate the barbarity of the tyrants towards the people of their own nation, as well as the indulgence of the Romans in sparing foreigners; and how often Titus, out of his desire to preserve the city and the temple, invited the seditious to come to terms of accommodation. I shall also distinguish the sufferings of the people, and their calamities; how far they were afflicted by the sedition, and how far by the famine, and at length were taken. Nor shall I omit to mention the misfortunes of the deserters, nor the punishments inflicted on the captives; as also how the temple was burnt, against the consent of Caesar; and how many sacred things that had been laid up in the temple were snatched out of the fire; the destruction also of the entire city, with the signs and wonders that went before it; and the taking the tyrants captives, and the multitude of those that were made slaves, and into what different misfortunes they were every one distributed. Moreover, what the Romans did to the remains of the wall; and how they demolished the strong holds that were in the country; and how Titus went over the whole country, and settled its affairs; together with his return into Italy, and his triumph.

12. I have comprehended all these things in seven books, and have left no occasion for complaint or accusation to such as have been acquainted with this war; and I have written it down for the sake of those that love truth, but not for those that please themselves [with fictitious relations]. And I will begin my account of these things with what I call my First Chapter.

1. AT the same time that Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, had aquarrel with the sixth Ptolemy about his right to the whole country ofSyria, a great sedition fell among the men of power in Judea, and theyhad a contention about obtaining the government; while each of those thatwere of dignity could not endure to be subject to their equals. However,Onias, one of the high priests, got the better, and cast the sons of Tobiasout of the city; who fled to Antiochus, and besought him to make use ofthem for his leaders, and to make an expedition into Judea. The king beingthereto disposed beforehand, complied with them, and came upon the Jewswith a great army, and took their city by force, and slew a great multitudeof those that favored Ptolemy, and sent out his soldiers to plunder themwithout mercy. He also spoiled the temple, and put a stop to the constantpractice of offering a daily sacrifice of expiation for three years andsix months. But Onias, the high priest, fled to Ptolemy, and received aplace from him in the Nomus of Heliopolis, where he built a city resemblingJerusalem, and a temple that was like its temple(1)concerning which we shall speak more in its proper place hereafter.

2. Now Antiochus was not satisfied either with his unexpected takingthe city, or with its pillage, or with the great slaughter he had madethere; but being overcome with his violent passions, and remembering whathe had suffered during the siege, he compelled the Jews to dissolve thelaws of their country, and to keep their infants uncircumcised, and tosacrifice swine's flesh upon the altar; against which they all opposedthemselves, and the most approved among them were put to death. Bacchidesalso, who was sent to keep the fortresses, having these wicked commands,joined to his own natural barbarity, indulged all sorts of the extremestwickedness, and tormented the worthiest of the inhabitants, man by man,and threatened their city every day with open destruction, till at lengthhe provoked the poor sufferers by the extremity of his wicked doings toavenge themselves.

3. Accordingly Matthias, the son of Asamoneus, one of the priests wholived in a village called Modin, armed himself, together with his own family,which had five sons of his in it, and slew Bacchides with daggers; andthereupon, out of the fear of the many garrisons [of the enemy], he fledto the mountains; and so many of the people followed him, that he was encouragedto come down from the mountains, and to give battle to Antiochus's generals,when he beat them, and drove them out of Judea. So he came to the governmentby this his success, and became the prince of his own people by their ownfree consent, and then died, leaving the government to Judas, his eldestson.

4. Now Judas, supposing that Antiochus would not lie still, gatheredan army out of his own countrymen, and was the first that made a leagueof friendship with the Romans, and drove Epiphanes out of the country whenhe had made a second expedition into it, and this by giving him a greatdefeat there; and when he was warmed by this great success, he made anassault upon the garrison that was in the city, for it had not been cutoff hitherto; so he ejected them out of the upper city, and drove the soldiersinto the lower, which part of the city was called the Citadel. He thengot the temple under his power, and cleansed the whole place, and walledit round about, and made new vessels for sacred ministrations, and broughtthem into the temple, because the former vessels had been profaned. Healso built another altar, and began to offer the sacrifices; and when thecity had already received its sacred constitution again, Antiochus died;whose son Antiochus succeeded him in the kingdom, and in his hatred tothe Jews also.

5. So this Antiochus got together fifty thousand footmen, and five thousandhorsemen, and fourscore elephants, and marched through Judea into the mountainousparts. He then took Bethsura, which was a small city; but at a place calledBethzacharis, where the passage was narrow, Judas met him with his army.However, before the forces joined battle, Judas's brother Eleazar, seeingthe very highest of the elephants adorned with a large tower, and withmilitary trappings of gold to guard him, and supposing that Antiochus himselfwas upon him, he ran a great way before his own army, and cutting his waythrough the enemy's troops, he got up to the elephant; yet could he notreach him who seemed to be the king, by reason of his being so high; butstill he ran his weapon into the belly of the beast, and brought him downupon himself, and was crushed to death, having done no more than attemptedgreat things, and showed that he preferred glory before life. Now he thatgoverned the elephant was but a private man; and had he proved to be Antiochus,Eleazar had performed nothing more by this bold stroke than that it mightappear he chose to die, when he had the bare hope of thereby doing a gloriousaction; nay, this disappointment proved an omen to his brother [Judas]how the entire battle would end. It is true that the Jews fought it outbravely for a long time, but the king's forces, being superior in number,and having fortune on their side, obtained the victory. And when a greatmany of his men were slain, Judas took the rest with him, and fled to thetoparchy of Gophna. So Antiochus went to Jerusalem, and staid there buta few days, for he wanted provisions, and so he went his way. He left indeeda garrison behind him, such as he thought sufficient to keep the place,but drew the rest of his army off, to take their winter-quarters in Syria.

6. Now, after the king was departed, Judas was not idle; for as manyof his own nation came to him, so did he gather those that had escapedout of the battle together, and gave battle again to Antiochus's generalsat a village called Adasa; and being too hard for his enemies in the battle,and killing a great number of them, he was at last himself slain also.Nor was it many days afterward that his brother John had a plot laid againsthim by Antiochus's party, and was slain by them.

1. WHEN Jonathan, who was Judas's brother, succeeded him, he behavedhimself with great circumspection in other respects, with relation to hisown people; and he corroborated his authority by preserving his friendshipwith the Romans. He also made a league with Antiochus the son. Yet wasnot all this sufficient for his security; for the tyrant Trypho, who wasguardian to Antiochus's son, laid a plot against him; and besides that,endeavored to take off his friends, and caught Jonathan by a wile, as hewas going to Ptolemais to Antiochus, with a few persons in his company,and put him in bonds, and then made an expedition against the Jews; butwhen he was afterward driven away by Simon, who was Jonathan's brother,and was enraged at his defeat, he put Jonathan to death.

2. However, Simon managed the public affairs after a courageous manner,and took Gazara, and Joppa, and Jamnia, which were cities in his neighborhood.He also got the garrison under, and demolished the citadel. He was afterwardan auxiliary to Antiochus, against Trypho, whom he besieged in Dora, beforehe went on his expedition against the Medes; yet could not he make theking ashamed of his ambition, though he had assisted him in killing Trypho;for it was not long ere Antiochus sent Cendebeus his general with an armyto lay waste Judea, and to subdue Simon; yet he, though he was now in years,conducted the war as if he were a much younger man. He also sent his sonswith a band of strong men against Antiochus, while he took part of thearmy himself with him, and fell upon him from another quarter. He alsolaid a great many men in ambush in many places of the mountains, and wassuperior in all his attacks upon them; and when he had been conqueror afterso glorious a manner, he was made high priest, and also freed the Jewsfrom the dominion of the Macedonians, after one hundred and seventy yearsof the empire [of Seleucus].

3. This Simon also had a plot laid against him, and was slain at a feastby his son-in-law Ptolemy, who put his wife and two sons into prison, andsent some persons to kill John, who was also called Hyrcanus.(2)But when the young man was informed of their coming beforehand, he madehaste to get to the city, as having a very great confidence in the peoplethere, both on account of the memory of the glorious actions of his father,and of the hatred they could not but bear to the injustice of Ptolemy.Ptolemy also made an attempt to get into the city by another gate; butwas repelled by the people, who had just then admitted of Hyrcanus; sohe retired presently to one of the fortresses that were about Jericho,which was called Dagon. Now when Hyrcanus had received the high priesthood,which his father had held before, and had offered sacrifice to God, hemade great haste to attack Ptolemy, that he might afford relief to hismother and brethren.

4. So he laid siege to the fortress, and was superior to Ptolemy inother respects, but was overcome by him as to the just affection [he hadfor his relations]; for when Ptolemy was distressed, he brought forth hismother, and his brethren, and set them upon the wall, and beat them withrods in every body's sight, and threatened, that unless he would go awayimmediately, he would throw them down headlong; at which sight Hyrcanus'scommiseration and concern were too hard for his anger. But his mother wasnot dismayed, neither at the stripes she received, nor at the death withwhich she was threatened; but stretched out her hands, and prayed her sonnot to be moved with the injuries that she suffered to spare the wretch;since it was to her better to die by the means of Ptolemy, than to liveever so long, provided he might be punished for the injuries he done totheir family. Now John's case was this: When he considered the courageof his mother, and heard her entreaty, he set about his attacks; but whenhe saw her beaten, and torn to pieces with the stripes, he grew feeble,and was entirely overcome by his affections. And as the siege was delayedby this means, the year of rest came on, upon which the Jews rest everyseventh year as they do on every seventh day. On this year, therefore,Ptolemy was freed from being besieged, and slew the brethren of John, withtheir mother, and fled to Zeno, who was also called Cotylas, who was tyrantof Philadelphia.

5. And now Antiochus was so angry at what he had suffered from Simon,that he made an expedition into Judea, and sat down before Jerusalem andbesieged Hyrcanus; but Hyrcanus opened the sepulcher of David, who wasthe richest of all kings, and took thence about three thousand talentsin money, and induced Antiochus, by the promise of three thousand talents,to raise the siege. Moreover, he was the first of the Jews that had moneyenough, and began to hire foreign auxiliaries also.

6. However, at another time, when Antiochus was gone upon an expeditionagainst the Medes, and so gave Hyrcanus an opportunity of being revengedupon him, he immediately made an attack upon the cities of Syria, as thinking,what proved to be the case with them, that he should find them empty ofgod troops. So he took Medaba and Samea, with the towns in their neighborhood,as also Shechem, and Gerizzim; and besides these, [he subdued] the nationof the Cutheans, who dwelt round about that temple which was built in imitationof the temple at Jerusalem; he also took a great many other cities of Idumea,with Adoreon and Marissa.

7. He also proceeded as far as Samaria, where is now the city Sebaste,which was built by Herod the king, and encompassed it all round with awall, and set his sons, Aristobulus and Antigonus, over the siege; whopushed it on so hard, that a famine so far prevailed within the city, thatthey were forced to eat what never was esteemed food. They also invitedAntiochus, who was called Cyzicenus, to come to their assistance; whereuponhe got ready, and complied with their invitation, but was beaten by Aristobulusand Antigonus; and indeed he was pursued as far as Scythopolis by thesebrethren, and fled away from them. So they returned back to Samaria, andshut the multitude again within the wall; and when they had taken the city,they demolished it, and made slaves of its inhabitants. And as they hadstill great success in their undertakings, they did not suffer their zealto cool, but marched with an army as far as Scythopolis, and made an incursionupon it, and laid waste all the country that lay within Mount Carmel.

8. But then these successes of John and of his sons made them be envied,and occasioned a sedition in the country; and many there were who got together,and would not be at rest till they brake out into open war, in which warthey were beaten. So John lived the rest of his life very happily, andadministered the government after a most extraordinary manner, and thisfor thirty-three entire years together. He died, leaving five sons behindhim. He was certainly a very happy man, and afforded no occasion to haveany complaint made of fortune on his account. He it was who alone had threeof the most desirable things in the world, - the government of his nation,and the high priesthood, and the gift of prophecy. For the Deity conversedwith him, and he was not ignorant of any thing that was to come afterward;insomuch that he foresaw and foretold that his two eldest sons would notcontinue masters of the government; and it will highly deserve our narrationto describe their catastrophe, and how far inferior these men were to theirfather in felicity.

1. FOR after the death of their father, the elder of them, Aristobulus,changed the government into a kingdom, and was the first that put a diademupon his head, four hundred seventy and one years and three months afterour people came down into this country, when they were set free from theBabylonian slavery. Now, of his brethren, he appeared to have an affectionfor Antigonus, who was next to him, and made him his equal; but for therest, he bound them, and put them in prison. He also put his mother inbonds, for her contesting the government with him; for John had left herto be the governess of public affairs. He also proceeded to that degreeof barbarity as to cause her to be pined to death in prison.

2. But vengeance circumvented him in the affair of his brother Antigonus,whom he loved, and whom he made his partner in the kingdom; for he slewhim by the means of the calumnies which ill men about the palace contrivedagainst him. At first, indeed, Aristobulus would not believe their reports,partly out of the affection he had for his brother, and partly becausehe thought that a great part of these tales were owing to the envy of theirrelaters: however, as Antigonus came once in a splendid manner from thearmy to that festival, wherein our ancient custom is to make tabernaclesfor God, it happened, in those days, that Aristobulus was sick, and that,at the conclusion of the feast, Antigonus came up to it, with his armedmen about him; and this when he was adorned in the finest manner possible;and that, in a great measure, to pray to God on the behalf of his brother.Now at this very time it was that these ill men came to the king, and toldhim in what a pompous manner the armed men came, and with what insolenceAntigonus marched, and that such his insolence was too great for a privateperson, and that accordingly he was come with a great band of men to killhim; for that he could not endure this bare enjoyment of royal honor, whenit was in his power to take the kingdom himself.

3. Now Aristobulus, by degrees, and unwillingly, gave credit to theseaccusations; and accordingly he took care not to discover his suspicionopenly, though he provided to be secure against any accidents; so he placedthe guards of his body in a certain dark subterranean passage; for he laysick in a place called formerly the Citadel, though afterwards its namewas changed to Antonia; and he gave orders that if Antigonus came unarmed,they should let him alone; but if he came to him in his armor, they shouldkill him. He also sent some to let him know beforehand that he should comeunarmed. But, upon this occasion, the queen very cunningly contrived thematter with those that plotted his ruin, for she persuaded those that weresent to conceal the king's message; but to tell Antigonus how his brotherhad heard he had got a very the suit of armor made with fine martial ornaments,in Galilee; and because his present sickness hindered him from coming andseeing all that finery, he very much desired to see him now in his armor;because, said he, in a little time thou art going away from me.

4. As soon as Antigonus heard this, the good temper of his brother notallowing him to suspect any harm from him, he came along with his armoron, to show it to his brother; but when he was going along that dark passagewhich was called Strato's Tower, he was slain by the body guards, and becamean eminent instance how calumny destroys all good-will and natural affection,and how none of our good affections are strong enough to resist envy perpetually.

5. And truly any one would be surprised at Judas upon this occasion.He was of the sect of the Essens, and had never failed or deceived menin his predictions before. Now this man saw Antigonus as he was passingalong by the temple, and cried out to his acquaintance, (they were nota few who attended upon him as his scholars,) "O strange!" saidhe, "it is good for me to die now, since truth is dead before me,and somewhat that I have foretold hath proved false; for this Antigonusis this day alive, who ought to hare died this day; and the place wherehe ought to be slain, according to that fatal decree, was Strato's Tower,which is at the distance of six hundred furlongs from this place; and yetfour hours of this day are over already; which point of time renders theprediction impossible to be fill filled." And when the old man hadsaid this, he was dejected in his mind, and so continued. But in a littletime news came that Antigonus was slain in a subterraneous place, whichwas itself also called Strato's Tower, by the same name with that Cesareawhich lay by the sea-side; and this ambiguity it was which caused the prophet'sdisorder.

6. Hereupon Aristobulus repented of the great crime he had been guiltyof, and this gave occasion to the increase of his distemper. He also grewworse and worse, and his soul was constantly disturbed at the thoughtsof what he had done, till his very bowels being torn to pieces by the intolerablegrief he was under, he threw up a great quantity of blood. And as one ofthose servants that attended him carried out that blood, he, by some supernaturalprovidence, slipped and fell down in the very place where Antigonus hadbeen slain; and so he spilt some of the murderer's blood upon the spotsof the blood of him that had been murdered, which still appeared. Hereupona lamentable cry arose among the spectators, as if the servant had spilledthe blood on purpose in that place; and as the king heard that cry, heinquired what was the cause of it; and while nobody durst tell him, hepressed them so much the more to let him know what was the matter; so atlength, when he had threatened them, and forced them to speak out, theytold; whereupon he burst into tears, and groaned, and said, "So Iperceive I am not like to escape the all-seeing eye of God, as to the greatcrimes I have committed; but the vengeance of the blood of my kinsman pursuesme hastily. O thou most impudent body! how long wilt thou retain a soulthat ought to die on account of that punishment it ought to suffer fora mother and a brother slain! How long shall I myself spend my blood dropby drop? let them take it all at once; and let their ghosts no longer bedisappointed by a few parcels of my bowels offered to them." As soonas he had said these words, he presently died, when he had reigned no longerthan a year.

1. AND now the king's wife loosed the king's brethren, and made Alexanderking, who appeared both elder in age, and more moderate in his temper thanthe rest; who, when he came to the government, slew one of his brethren,as affecting to govern himself; but had the other of them in great esteem,as loving a quiet life, without meddling with public affairs.

2. Now it happened that there was a battle between him and Ptolemy,who was called Lathyrus, who had taken the city Asochis. He indeed slewa great many of his enemies, but the victory rather inclined to Ptolemy.But when this Ptolemy was pursued by his mother Cleopatra, and retiredinto Egypt, Alexander besieged Gadara, and took it; as also he did Amathus,which was the strongest of all the fortresses that were about Jordan, andtherein were the most precious of all the possessions of Theodorus, theson of Zeno. Whereupon Theodopus marched against him, and took what belongedto himself as well as the king's baggage, and slew ten thousand of theJews. However, Alexander recovered this blow, and turned his force towardsthe maritime parts, and took Raphia and Gaza, with Anthedon also, whichwas afterwards called Agrippias by king Herod.

3. But when he had made slaves of the citizens of all these cities,the nation of the Jews made an insurrection against him at a festival;for at those feasts seditions are generally begun; and it looked as ifhe should not be able to escape the plot they had laid for him, had nothis foreign auxiliaries, the Pisidians and Cilicians, assisted him; foras to the Syrians, he never admitted them among his mercenary troops, onaccount of their innate enmity against the Jewish nation. And when he hadslain more than six thousand of the rebels, he made an incursion into Arabia;and when he had taken that country, together with the Gileadires and Moabites,he enjoined them to pay him tribute, and returned to Areathus; and as Theodoruswas surprised at his great success, he took the fortress, and demolishedit.

4. However, when he fought with Obodas, king of the Arabians, who hadlaid an ambush for him near Golan, and a plot against him, he lost hisentire army, which was crowded together in a deep valley, and broken topieces by the multitude of camels. And when he had made his escape to Jerusalem,he provoked the multitude, which hated him before, to make an insurrectionagainst him, and this on account of the greatness of the calamity thathe was under. However, he was then too hard for them; and, in the severalbattles that were fought on both sides, he slew not fewer than fifty thousandof the Jews in the interval of six years. Yet had he no reason to rejoicein these victories, since he did but consume his own kingdom; till at lengthhe left off fighting, and endeavored to come to a composition with them,by talking with his subjects. But this mutability and irregularity of hisconduct made them hate him still more. And when he asked them why theyso hated him, and what he should do in order to appease them, they said,by killing himself; for that it would be then all they could do to be reconciledto him, who had done such tragical things to them, even when he was dead.At the same time they invited Demetrius, who was called Eucerus, to assistthem; and as he readily complied with their requests, in hopes of greatadvantages, and came with his army, the Jews joined with those their auxiliariesabout Shechem.

5. Yet did Alexander meet both these forces with one thousand horsemen,and eight thousand mercenaries that were on foot. He had also with himthat part of the Jews which favored him, to the number of ten thousand;while the adverse party had three thousand horsemen, and fourteen thousandfootmen. Now, before they joined battle, the kings made proclamation, andendeavored to draw off each other's soldiers, and make them revolt; whileDemetrius hoped to induce Alexander's mercenaries to leave him, and Alexanderhoped to induce the Jews that were with Demetrius to leave him. But sinceneither the Jews would leave off their rage, nor the Greeks prove unfaithful,they came to an engagement, and to a close fight with their weapons. Inwhich battle Demetrius was the conqueror, although Alexander's mercenariesshowed the greatest exploits, both in soul and body. Yet did the upshotof this battle prove different from what was expected, as to both of them;for neither did those that invited Demetrius to come to them continue firmto him, though he was conqueror; and six thousand Jews, out of pity tothe change of Alexander's condition, when he was fled to the mountains,came over to him. Yet could not Demetrius bear this turn of affairs; butsupposing that Alexander was already become a match for him again, andthat all the nation would [at length] run to him, he left the country,and went his way.

6. However, the rest of the [Jewish] multitude did not lay aside theirquarrels with him, when the [foreign] auxiliaries were gone; but they hada perpetual war with Alexander, until he had slain the greatest part ofthem, and driven the rest into the city Berneselis; and when he had demolishedthat city, he carried the captives to Jerusalem. Nay, his rage was grownso extravagant, that his barbarity proceeded to the degree of impiety;for when he had ordered eight hundred to be hung upon crosses in the midstof the city, he had the throats of their wives and children cut beforetheir eyes; and these executions he saw as he was drinking and lying downwith his concubines. Upon which so deep a surprise seized on the people,that eight thousand of his opposers fled away the very next night, outof all Judea, whose flight was only terminated by Alexander's death; soat last, though not till late, and with great difficulty, he, by such actions,procured quiet to his kingdom, and left off fighting any more.

7. Yet did that Antiochus, who was also called Dionysius, become anorigin of troubles again. This man was the brother of Demetrius, and thelast of the race of the Seleucidse.(3)Alexander was afraid of him, when he was marching against the Arabians;so he cut a deep trench between Antipatris, which was near the mountains,and the shores of Joppa; he also erected a high wall before the trench,and built wooden towers, in order to hinder any sudden approaches. Butstill he was not able to exclude Antiochus, for he burnt the towers, andfilled up the trenches, and marched on with his army. And as he lookedupon taking his revenge on Alexander, for endeavoring to stop him, as athing of less consequence, he marched directly against the Arabians, whoseking retired into such parts of the country as were fittest for engagingthe enemy, and then on the sudden made his horse turn back, which werein number ten thousand, and fell upon Antiochus's army while they werein disorder, and a terrible battle ensued. Antiochus's troops, so longas he was alive, fought it out, although a mighty slaughter was made amongthem by the Arabians; but when he fell, for he was in the forefront, inthe utmost danger, in rallying his troops, they all gave ground, and thegreatest part of his army were destroyed, either in the action or the flight;and for the rest, who fled to the village of Cana, it happened that theywere all consumed by want of necessaries, a few only excepted.

8. About this time it was that the people of Damascus, out of theirhatred to Ptolemy, the son of Menhens, invited Aretas [to take the government],and made him king of Celesyria. This man also made an expedition againstJudea, and beat Alexander in battle; but afterwards retired by mutual agreement.But Alexander, when he had taken Pella, marched to Gerasa again, out ofthe covetous desire he had of Theodorus's possessions; and when he hadbuilt a triple wall about the garrison, he took the place by force. Healso demolished Golan, and Seleucia, and what was called the Valley ofAntiochus; besides which, he took the strong fortress of Gamala, and strippedDemetrius, who was governor therein, of what he had, on account of themany crimes laid to his charge, and then returned into Judea, after hehad been three whole years in this expedition. And now he was kindly receivedof the nation, because of the good success he had. So when he was at restfrom war, he fell into a distemper; for he was afflicted with a quartanague, and supposed that, by exercising himself again in martial affairs,he should get rid of this distemper; but by making such expeditions atunseasonable times, and forcing his body to undergo greater hardships thanit was able to bear, he brought himself to his end. He died, therefore,in the midst of his troubles, after he had reigned seven and twenty years.

1. NOW Alexander left the kingdom to Alexandra his wife, and dependedupon it that the Jews would now very readily submit to her, because shehad been very averse to such cruelty as he had treated them with, and hadopposed his violation of their laws, and had thereby got the good-willof the people. Nor was he mistaken as to his expectations; for this womankept the dominion, by the opinion that the people had of her piety; forshe chiefly studied the ancient customs of her country, and cast thosemen out of the government that offended against their holy laws. And asshe had two sons by Alexander, she made Hyrcanus the elder high priest,on account of his age, as also, besides that, on account of his inactivetemper, no way disposing him to disturb the public. But she retained theyounger, Aristobulus, with her as a private person, by reason of the warmthof his temper.

2. And now the Pharisees joined themselves to her, to assist her inthe government. These are a certain sect of the Jews that appear more religiousthan others, and seem to interpret the laws more accurately. low Alexandrahearkened to them to an extraordinary degree, as being herself a womanof great piety towards God. But these Pharisees artfully insinuated themselvesinto her favor by little and little, and became themselves the real administratorsof the public affairs: they banished and reduced whom they pleased; theybound and loosed [men] at their pleasure;(4)and, to say all at once, they had the enjoyment of the royal authority,whilst the expenses and the difficulties of it belonged to Alexandra. Shewas a sagacious woman in the management of great affairs, and intent alwaysupon gathering soldiers together; so that she increased the army the onehalf, and procured a great body of foreign troops, till her own nationbecame not only very powerful at home, but terrible also to foreign potentates,while she governed other people, and the Pharisees governed her.

3. Accordingly, they themselves slew Diogenes, a person of figure, andone that had been a friend to Alexander; and accused him as having assistedthe king with his advice, for crucifying the eight hundred men [beforementioned.] They also prevailed with Alexandra to put to death the restof those who had irritated him against them. Now she was so superstitiousas to comply with their desires, and accordingly they slew whom they pleasedthemselves. But the principal of those that were in danger fled to Aristobulus,who persuaded his mother to spare the men on account of their dignity,but to expel them out of the city, unless she took them to be innocent;so they were suffered to go unpunished, and were dispersed all over thecountry. But when Alexandra sent out her army to Damascus, under pretensethat Ptolemy was always oppressing that city, she got possession of it;nor did it make any considerable resistance. She also prevailed with Tigranes,king of Armenia, who lay with his troops about Ptolemais, and besiegedCleopatra,(5)by agreements and presents, to go away. Accordingly, Tigranes soon arosefrom the siege, by reason of those domestic tumults which happened uponLucullus's expedition into Armenia.

4. In the mean time, Alexandra fell sick, and Aristobulus, her youngerson, took hold of this opportunity, with his domestics, of which he hada great many, who were all of them his friends, on account of the warmthof their youth, and got possession of all the fortresses. He also usedthe sums of money he found in them to get together a number of mercenarysoldiers, and made himself king; and besides this, upon Hyrcanus's complaintto his mother, she compassionated his case, and put Aristobulus's wifeand sons under restraint in Antonia, which was a fortress that joined tothe north part of the temple. It was, as I have already said, of old calledthe Citadel; but afterwards got the name of Antonia, when Antony was [lordof the East], just as the other cities, Sebaste and Agrippias, had theirnames changed, and these given them from Sebastus and Agrippa. But Alexandradied before she could punish Aristobulus for his disinheriting his brother,after she had reigned nine years.

1. NOW Hyrcanus was heir to the kingdom, and to him did his mother commitit before she died; but Aristobulus was superior to him in power and magnanimity;and when there was a battle between them, to decide the dispute about thekingdom, near Jericho, the greatest part deserted Hyrcanus, and went overto Aristobulus; but Hyrcanus, with those of his party who staid with him,fled to Antonia, and got into his power the hostages that might he forhis preservation (which were Aristobulus's wife, with her children); butthey came to an agreement before things should come to extremities, thatAristobulus should be king, and Hyrcanus should resign that up, but retainall the rest of his dignities, as being the king's brother. Hereupon theywere reconciled to each other in the temple, and embraced one another ina very kind manner, while the people stood round about them; they alsochanged their houses, while Aristobulus went to the royal palace, and Hyrcanusretired to the house of Aristobulus.

2. Now those other people which were at variance with Aristobulus wereafraid upon his unexpected obtaining the government; and especially thisconcerned Antipater(6)whom Aristobulus hated of old. He was by birth an Idumean, and one of theprincipal of that nation, on account of his ancestors and riches, and otherauthority to him belonging: he also persuaded Hyrcanus to fly to Aretas,the king of Arabia, and to lay claim to the kingdom; as also he persuadedAretas to receive Hyrcanus, and to bring him back to his kingdom: he alsocast great reproaches upon Aristobulus, as to his morals, and gave greatcommendations to Hyrcanus, and exhorted Aretas to receive him, and toldhim how becoming a filing it would be for him, who ruled so great a kingdom,to afford his assistance to such as are injured; alleging that Hyrcanuswas treated unjustly, by being deprived of that dominion which belongedto him by the prerogative of his birth. And when he had predisposed themboth to do what he would have them, he took Hyrcanus by night, and ranaway from the city, and, continuing his flight with great swiftness, heescaped to the place called Petra, which is the royal seat of the kingof Arabia, where he put Hyrcanus into Aretas's hand; and by discoursingmuch with him, and gaining upon him with many presents, he prevailed withhim to give him an army that might restore him to his kingdom. This armyconsisted of fifty thousand footmen and horsemen, against which Aristobuluswas not able to make resistance, but was deserted in his first onset, andwas driven to Jerusalem; he also had been taken at first by force, if Scaurus,the Roman general, had not come and seasonably interposed himself, andraised the siege. This Scaurus was sent into Syria from Armenia by Pompeythe Great, when he fought against Tigranes; so Scaurus came to Damascus,which had been lately taken by Metellus and Lollius, and caused them toleave the place; and, upon his hearing how the affairs of Judea stood,he made haste thither as to a certain booty.

3. As soon, therefore, as he was come into the country, there came ambassadorsfrom both the brothers, each of them desiring his assistance; but Aristobulus'sthree hundred talents had more weight with him than the justice of thecause; which sum, when Scaurus had received, he sent a herald to Hyrcanusand the Arabians, and threatened them with the resentment of the Romansand of Pompey, unless they would raise the siege. So Aretas was terrified,and retired out of Judea to Philadelphia, as did Scaurus return to Damascusagain; nor was Aristobulus satisfied with escaping [out of his brother'shands,] but gathered all his forces together, and pursued his enemies,and fought them at a place called Papyron, and slew about six thousandof them, and, together with them Antipater's brother Phalion.

4. When Hyrcanus and Antipater were thus deprived of their hopes fromthe Arabians, they transferred the same to their adversaries; and becausePompey had passed through Syria, and was come to Damascus, they fled tohim for assistance; and, without any bribes, they made the same equitablepleas that they had used to Aretas, and besought him to hate the violentbehavior of Aristobulus, and to bestow the kingdom on him to whom it justlybelonged, both on account of his good character and on account of his superiorityin age. However, neither was Aristobulus wanting to himself in this case,as relying on the bribes that Scaurus had received: he was also there himself,and adorned himself after a manner the most agreeable to royalty that hewas able. But he soon thought it beneath him to come in such a servilemanner, and could not endure to serve his own ends in a way so much moreabject than he was used to; so he departed from Diospolis.

5. At this his behavior Pompey had great indignation; Hyrcanus alsoand his friends made great intercessions to Pompey; so he took not onlyhis Roman forces, but many of his Syrian auxiliaries, and marched againstAristobulus. But when he had passed by Pella and Scythopolis, and was cometo Corea, where you enter into the country of Judea, when you go up toit through the Mediterranean parts, he heard that Aristobulus was fledto Alexandrium, which is a strong hold fortified with the utmost magnificence,and situated upon a high mountain; and he sent to him, and commanded himto come down. Now his inclination was to try his fortune in a battle, sincehe was called in such an imperious manner, rather than to comply with thatcall. However, he saw the multitude were in great fear, and his friendsexhorted him to consider what the power of the Romans was, and how it wasirresistible; so he complied with their advice, and came down to Pompey;and when he had made a long apology for himself, and for the justness ofhis cause in taking the government, he returned to the fortress. And whenhis brother invited him again [to plead his cause], he came down and spakeabout the justice of it, and then went away without any hinderance fromPompey; so he was between hope and fear. And when he came down, it wasto prevail with Pompey to allow him the government entirely; and when hewent up to the citadel, it was that he might not appear to debase himselftoo low. However, Pompey commanded him to give up his fortified places,and forced him to write to every one of their governors to yield them up;they having had this charge given them, to obey no letters but what wereof his own hand-writing. Accordingly he did what he was ordered to do;but had still an indignation at what was done, and retired to Jerusalem,and prepared to fight with Pompey.

6. But Pompey did not give him time to make any preparations [for asiege], but followed him at his heels; he was also obliged to make hastein his attempt, by the death of Mithridates, of which he was informed aboutJericho. Now here is the most fruitful country of Judea, which bears avast number of palm trees(7)besides the balsam tree, whose sprouts they cut with sharp stones, andat the incisions they gather the juice, which drops down like tears. SoPompey pitched his camp in that place one night, and then hasted away thenext morning to Jerusalem; but Aristobulus was so aftrighted at his approach,that he came and met him by way of supplication. He also promised him money,and that he would deliver up both himself and the city into his disposal,and thereby mitigated the anger of Pompey. Yet did not he perform any ofthe conditions he had agreed to; for Aristobulus's party would not so muchas admit Gabinius into the city, who was sent to receive the money thathe had promised.

1. At this treatment Pompey was very angry, and took Aristobulus intocustody. And when he was come to the city, he looked about where he mightmake his attack; for he saw the walls were so firm, that it would be hardto overcome them; and that the valley before the walls was terrible; andthat the temple, which was within that valley, was itself encompassed witha very strong wall, insomuch that if the city were taken, that temple wouldbe a second place of refuge for the enemy to retire to.

2. Now as be was long in deliberating about this matter, a seditionarose among the people within the city; Aristobulus's party being willingto fight, and to set their king at liberty, while the party of Hyrcanuswere for opening the gates to Pompey; and the dread people were in occasionedthese last to be a very numerous party, when they looked upon the excellentorder the Roman soldiers were in. So Aristobulus's party was worsted, andretired into the temple, and cut off the communication between the templeand the city, by breaking down the bridge that joined them together, andprepared to make an opposition to the utmost; but as the others had receivedthe Romans into the city, and had delivered up the palace to him, Pompeysent Piso, one of his great officers, into that palace with an army, whodistributed a garrison about the city, because he could not persuade anyone of those that had fled to the temple to come to terms of accommodation;he then disposed all things that were round about them so as might favortheir attacks, as having Hyrcanus's party very ready to afford them bothcounsel and assistance.

3. But Pompey himself filled up the ditch that was oil the north sideof the temple, and the entire valley also, the army itself being obligedto carry the materials for that purpose. And indeed it was a hard thingto fill up that valley, by reason of its immense depth, especially as theJews used all the means possible to repel them from their superior situation;nor had the Romans succeeded in their endeavors, had not Pompey taken noticeof the seventh days, on which the Jews abstain from all sorts of work ona religious account, and raised his bank, but restrained his soldiers fromfighting on those days; for the Jews only acted defensively on sabbathdays. But as soon as Pompey had filled up the valley, he erected high towersupon the bank, and brought those engines which they had fetched from Tyrenear to the wall, and tried to batter it down; and the slingers of stonesbeat off those that stood above them, and drove them away; but the towerson this side of the city made very great resistance, and were indeed extraordinaryboth for largeness and magnificence.

4. Now here it was that, upon the many hardships which the Romans underwent,Pompey could not but admire not only at the other instances of the Jews'fortitude, but especially that they did not at all intermit their religiousservices, even when they were encompassed with darts on all sides; for,as if the city were in full peace, their daily sacrifices and purifications,and every branch of their religious worship, was still performed to Godwith the utmost exactness. Nor indeed when the temple was actually taken,and they were every day slain about the altar, did they leave off the instancesof their Divine worship that were appointed by their law; for it was inthe third month of the siege before the Romans could even with great difficultyoverthrow one of the towers, and get into the temple. Now he that firstof all ventured to get over the wall, was Faustus Cornelius the son ofSylla; and next after him were two centurions, Furius and Fabius; and everyone of these was followed by a cohort of his own, who encompassed the Jewson all sides, and slew them, some of them as they were running for shelterto the temple, and others as they, for a while, fought in their own defense.

5. And now did many of the priests, even when they saw their enemiesassailing them with swords in their hands, without any disturbance, goon with their Divine worship, and were slain while they were offering theirdrink-offerings, and burning their incense, as preferring the duties abouttheir worship to God before their own preservation. The greatest part ofthem were slain by their own countrymen, of the adverse faction, and aninnumerable multitude threw themselves down precipices; nay, some therewere who were so distracted among the insuperable difficulties they wereunder, that they set fire to the buildings that were near to the wall,and were burnt together with them. Now of the Jews were slain twelve thousand;but of the Romans very few were slain, but a greater number was wounded.

6. But there was nothing that affected the nation so much, in the calamitiesthey were then under, as that their holy place, which had been hithertoseen by none, should be laid open to strangers; for Pompey, and those thatwere about him, went into the temple itself(8)whither it was not lawful for any to enter but the high priest, and sawwhat was reposited therein, the candlestick with its lamps, and the table,and the pouring vessels, and the censers, all made entirely of gold, asalso a great quantity of spices heaped together, with two thousand talentsof sacred money. Yet did not he touch that money, nor any thing else thatwas there reposited; but he commanded the ministers about the temple, thevery next day after he had taken it, to cleanse it, and to perform theiraccustomed sacrifices. Moreover, he made Hyrcanus high priest, as one thatnot only in other respects had showed great alacrity, on his side, duringthe siege, but as he had been the means of hindering the multitude thatwas in the country from fighting for Aristobulus, which they were otherwisevery ready to have done; by which means he acted the part of a good general,and reconciled the people to him more by benevolence than by terror. Now,among the Captives, Aristobulus's father-in-law was taken, who was alsohis uncle: so those that were the most guilty he punished with decollatlon;but rewarded Faustus, and those with him that had fought so bravely, withglorious presents, and laid a tribute upon the country, and upon Jerusalemitself.

7. He also took away from the nation all those cities that they hadformerly taken, and that belonged to Celesyria, and made them subject tohim that was at that time appointed to be the Roman president there; andreduced Judea within its proper bounds. He also rebuilt Gadara,(9)that had been demolished by the Jews, in order to gratify one Demetrius,who was of Gadara, and was one of his own freed-men. He also made othercities free from their dominion, that lay in the midst of the country,such, I mean, as they had not demolished before that time; Hippos, andScythopolis, as also Pella, and Samaria, and Marissa; and besides theseAshdod, and Jamnia, and Arethusa; and in like manner dealt he with themaritime cities, Gaza, and Joppa, and Dora, and that which was ancientlycalled Strato's Tower, but was afterward rebuilt with the most magnificentedifices, and had its name changed to Cesarea, by king Herod. All whichhe restored to their own citizens, and put them under the province of Syria;which province, together with Judea, and the countries as far as Egyptand Euphrates, he committed to Scaurus as their governor, and gave himtwo legions to support him; while he made all the haste he could himselfto go through Cilicia, in his way to Rome, having Aristobulus and his childrenalong with him as his captives. They were two daughters and two sons; theone of which sons, Alexander, ran away as he was going; but the younger,Antigonus, with his sisters, were carried to Rome.

1. IN the mean time, Scaurus made an expedition into Arabia, but wasstopped by the difficulty of the places about Petra. However, he laid wastethe country about Pella, though even there he was under great hardship;for his army was afflicted with famine. In order to supply which want,Hyrcanus afforded him some assistance, and sent him provisions by the meansof Antipater; whom also Scaurus sent to Aretas, as one well acquaintedwith him, to induce him to pay him money to buy his peace. The king ofArabia complied with the proposal, and gave him three hundred talents;upon which Scaurus drew his army out of Arabia(10)

2. But as for Alexander, that son of Aristobulus who ran away from Pompey,in some time he got a considerable band of men together, and lay heavyupon Hyrcanus, and overran Judea, and was likely to overturn him quickly;and indeed he had come to Jerusalem, and had ventured to rebuild its wallthat was thrown down by Pompey, had not Gabinius, who was sent as successorto Scaurus into Syria, showed his bravery, as in many other points, soin making an expedition against Alexander; who, as he was afraid that hewould attack him, so he got together a large army, composed of ten thousandarmed footmen, and fifteen hundred horsemen. He also built walls aboutproper places; Alexandrium, and Hyrcanium, and Machorus, that lay uponthe mountains of Arabia.

3. However, Gabinius sent before him Marcus Antonius, and followed himselfwith his whole army; but for the select body of soldiers that were aboutAntipater, and another body of Jews under the command of Malichus and Pitholaus,these joined themselves to those captains that were about Marcus Antonius,and met Alexander; to which body came Oabinius with his main army soonafterward; and as Alexander was not able to sustain the charge of the enemies'forces, now they were joined, he retired. But when he was come near toJerusalem, he was forced to fight, and lost six thousand men in the battle;three thousand of which fell down dead, and three thousand were taken alive;so he fled with the remainder to Alexandrium.

4. Now when Gabinius was come to Alexandrium, because he found a greatmany there en-camped, he tried, by promising them pardon for their formeroffenses, to induce them to come over to him before it came to a fight;but when they would hearken to no terms of accommodation, he slew a greatnumber of them, and shut up a great number of them in the citadel. NowMarcus Antonius, their leader, signalized himself in this battle, who,as he always showed great courage, so did he never show it so much as now;but Gabinius, leaving forces to take the citadel, went away himself, andsettled the cities that had not been demolished, and rebuilt those thathad been destroyed. Accordingly, upon his injunctions, the following citieswere restored: Scythopolis, and Samaria, and Anthedon, and Apollonia, andJamnia, and Raphia, and Mariassa, and Adoreus, and Gamala, and Ashdod,and many others; while a great number of men readily ran to each of them,and became their inhabitants.

5. When Gabinius had taken care of these cities, he returned to Alexandrium,and pressed on the siege. So when Alexander despaired of ever obtainingthe government, he sent ambassadors to him, and prayed him to forgive whathe had offended him in, and gave up to him the remaining fortresses, Hyrcaniumand Macherus, as he put Alexandrium into his hands afterwards; all whichGabinius demolished, at the persuasion of Alexander's mother, that theymight not be receptacles of men in a second war. She was now there in orderto mollify Gabinius, out of her concern for her relations that were captivesat Rome, which were her husband and her other children. After this Gabiniusbrought Hyrcanus to Jerusalem, and committed the care of the temple tohim; but ordained the other political government to be by an aristocracy.He also parted the whole nation into five conventions, assigning one portionto Jerusalem, another to Gadara, that another should belong to Amathus,a fourth to Jericho, and to the fifth division was allotted Sepphoris,a city of Galilee. So the people were glad to be thus freed from monarchicalgovernment, and were governed for the future by all aristocracy.

6. Yet did Aristobulus afford another foundation for new disturbances.He fled away from Rome, and got together again many of the Jews that weredesirous of a change, such as had borne an affection to him of old; andwhen he had taken Alexandrium in the first place, he attempted to builda wall about it; but as soon as Gabinius had sent an army against him underSiscuria, and Antonius, and Servilius, he was aware of it, and retreatedto Macherus. And as for the unprofitable multitude, he dismissed them,and only marched on with those that were armed, being to the number ofeight thousand, among whom was Pitholaus, who had been the lieutenant atJerusalem, but deserted to Aristobulus with a thousand of his men; so theRomans followed him, and when it came to a battle, Aristobulus's partyfor a long time fought courageously; but at length they were overborneby the Romans, and of them five thousand fell down dead, and about twothousand fled to a certain little hill, but the thousand that remainedwith Aristobulus brake through the Roman army, and marched together toMacherus; and when the king had lodged the first night upon its ruins,he was in hopes of raising another army, if the war would but cease a while;accordingly, he fortified that strong hold, though it was done after apoor manner. But the Romans falling upon him, he resisted, even beyondhis abilities, for two days, and then was taken, and brought a prisonerto Gabinius, with Antigonus his son, who had fled away together with himfrom Rome; and from Gabinius he was carried to Rome again. Wherefore thesenate put him under confinement, but returned his children back to Judea,because Gabinius informed them by letters that he had promised Aristobulus'smother to do so, for her delivering the fortresses up to him.

7. But now as Gabinius was marching to the war against the Parthians,he was hindered by Ptolemy, whom, upon his return from Euphrates, he broughtback into Egypt, making use of Hyrcanus and Antipater to provide everything that was necessary for this expedition; for Antipater furnished himwith money, and weapons, and corn, and auxiliaries; he also prevailed withthe Jews that were there, and guarded the avenues at Pelusium, to let thempass. But now, upon Gabinius's absence, the other part of Syria was inmotion, and Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, brought the Jews to revoltagain. Accordingly, he got together a very great army, and set about killingall the Romans that were in the country; hereupon Gabinius was afraid,(for he was come back already out of Egypt, and obliged to come back quicklyby these tumults,) and sent Antipater, who prevailed with some of the revoltersto be quiet. However, thirty thousand still continued with Alexander, whowas himself eager to fight also; accordingly, Gabinius went out to fight,when the Jews met him; and as the battle was fought near Mount Tabor, tenthousand of them were slain, and the rest of the multitude dispersed themselves,and fled away. So Gabinius came to Jerusalem, and settled the governmentas Antipater would have it; thence he marched, and fought and beat theNabateans: as for Mithridates and Orsanes, who fled out of Parthin, hesent them away privately, but gave it out among the soldiers that theyhad run away.

8. In the mean time, Crassus came as successor to Gabinius in Syria.He took away all the rest of the gold belonging to the temple of Jerusalem,in order to furnish himself for his expedition against the Parthians. Healso took away the two thousand talents which Pompey had not touched; butwhen he had passed over Euphrates, he perished himself, and his army withhim; concerning which affairs this is not a proper time to speak [morelargely].

9. But now Cassius, after Crassus, put a stop to the Parthians, whowere marching in order to enter Syria. Cassius had fled into that province,and when he had taken possession of the same, he made a hasty march intoJudea; and, upon his taking Taricheae, he carried thirty thousand Jewsinto slavery. He also slew Pitholaus, who had supported the seditious followersof Aristobulus; and it was Antipater who advised him so to do. Now thisAntipater married a wife of an eminent family among the Arabisus, whosename was Cypros, and had four sons born to him by her, Phasaelus and Herod,who was afterwards king, and, besides these, Joseph and Pheroras; and hehad a daughter whose name was Salome. Now as he made himself friends amongthe men of power every where, by the kind offices he did them, and thehospitable manner that he treated them; so did he contract the greatestfriendship with the king of Arabia, by marrying his relation; insomuchthat when he made war with Aristobulus, he sent and intrusted his childrenwith him. So when Cassius had forced Alexander to come to terms and tobe quiet, he returned to Euphrates, in order to prevent the Parthians fromrepassing it; concerning which matter we shall speak elsewhere.(11)

1. NOW, upon the flight of Pompey and of the senate beyond the IonianSea, Caesar got Rome and the empire under his power, and released Aristobulusfrom his bonds. He also committed two legions to him, and sent him in hasteinto Syria, as hoping that by his means he should easily conquer that country,and the parts adjoining to Judea. But envy prevented any effect of Aristobulus'salacrity, and the hopes of Caesar; for he was taken off by poison givenhim by those of Pompey's party; and, for a long while, he had not so muchas a burial vouchsafed him in his own country; but his dead body lay [aboveground], preserved in honey, until it was sent to the Jews by Antony, inorder to be buried in the royal sepulchers.

2. His son Alexander also was beheaded by Sci-pio at Antioch, and thatby the command of Pompey, and upon an accusation laid against him beforehis tribunal, for the mischiefs he had done to the Romans. But Ptolemy,the son of Menneus, who was then ruler of Chalcis, under Libanus, tookhis brethren to him by sending his son Philippio for them to Ascalon, whotook Antigonus, as well as his sisters, away from Aristobulus's wife, andbrought them to his father; and falling in love with the younger daughter,he married her, and was afterwards slain by his father on her account;for Ptolemy himself, after he had slain his son, married her, whose namewas Alexandra; on the account of which marriage he took the greater careof her brother and sister.

3. Now, after Pompey was dead, Antipater changed sides, and cultivateda friendship with Caesar. And since Mithridates of Pergamus, with the forceshe led against Egypt, was excluded from the avenues about Pelusium, andwas forced to stay at Asealon, he persuaded the Arabians, among whom hehad lived, to assist him, and came himself to him, at the head of threethousand armed men. He also encouraged the men of power in Syria to cometo his assistance, as also of the inhabitants of Libanus, Ptolemy, andJamblicus, and another Ptolemy; by which means the cities of that countrycame readily into this war; insomuch that Mithridates ventured now, independence upon the additional strength that he had gotten by Antipater,to march forward to Pelusium; and when they refused him a passage throughit, he besieged the city; in the attack of which place Antipater principallysignalized himself, for he brought down that part of the wall which wasover against him, and leaped first of all into the city, with the men thatwere about him.

4. Thus was Pelusium taken. But still, as they were marching on, thoseEgyptian Jews that inhabited the country called the country of Onias stoppedthem. Then did Antipater not only persuade them not to stop them, but toafford provisions for their army; on which account even the people aboutMemphis would not fight against them, but of their own accord joined Mithridates.Whereupon he went round about Delta, and fought the rest of the Egyptiansat a place called the Jews' Camp; nay, when he was in danger in the battlewith all his right wing, Antipater wheeled about, and came along the bankof the river to him; for he had beaten those that opposed him as he ledthe left wing. After which success he fell upon those that pursued Mithridates,and slew a great many of them, and pursued the remainder so far that hetook their camp, while he lost no more than fourscore of his own men; asMithridates lost, during the pursuit that was made after him, about eighthundred. He was also himself saved unexpectedly, and became an unreproachablewitness to Caesar of the great actions of Antipater.

5. Whereupon Caesar encouraged Antipater to undertake other hazardousenterprises for him, and that by giving him great commendations and hopesof reward. In all which enterprises he readily exposed himself to manydangers, and became a most courageous warrior; and had many wounds almostall over his body, as demonstrations of his valor. And when Caesar hadsettled the affairs of Egypt, and was returning into Syria again, he gavehim the privilege of a Roman citizen, and freedom from taxes, and renderedhim an object of admiration by the honors and marks of friendship he bestowedupon him. On this account it was that he also confirmed Hyrcanus in thehigh priesthood.

1. ABOUT this time it was that Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, cameto Caesar, and became, in a surprising manner, the occasion of Antipater'sfurther advancement; for whereas he ought to have lamented that his fatherappeared to have been poisoned on account of his quarrels with Pompey,and to have complained of Scipio's barbarity towards his brother, and notto mix any invidious passion when he was suing for mercy; besides thosethings, he came before Caesar, and accused Hyrcanus and Antipater, howthey had driven him and his brethren entirely out of their native country,and had acted in a great many instances unjustly and extravagantly withrelation to their nation; and that as to the assistance they had sent himinto Egypt, it was not done out of good-will to him, but out of the fearthey were in from former quarrels, and in order to gain pardon for theirfriendship to [his enemy] Pompey.

2. Hereupon Antipater threw away his garments, and showed the multitudeof the wounds he had, and said, that as to his good-will to Caesar, hehad no occasion to say a word, because his body cried aloud, though hesaid nothing himself; that he wondered at Antigonus's boldness, while hewas himself no other than the son of an enemy to the Romans, and of a fugitive,and had it by inheritance from his father to be fond of innovations andseditions, that he should undertake to accuse other men before the Romangovernor, and endeavor to gain some advantages to himself, when he oughtto be contented that he was suffered to live; for that the reason of hisdesire of governing public affairs was not so much because he was in wantof it, but because, if he could once obtain the same, he might stir upa sedition among the Jews, and use what he should gain from the Romansto the disservice of those that gave it him.

3. When Caesar heard this, he declared Hyrcanus to be the most worthyof the high priesthood, and gave leave to Antipater to choose what authorityhe pleased; but he left the determination of such dignity to him that bestowedthe dignity upon him; so he was constituted procurator of all Judea, andobtained leave, moreover, to rebuild(12)those walls of his country that had been thrown down. These honorary grantsCaesar sent orders to have engraved in the Capitol, that they might standthere as indications of his own justice, and of the virtue of Antipater.

4. But as soon as Antipater had conducted Caesar out of Syria he returnedto Judea, and the first thing he did was to rebuild that wall of his owncountry [Jerusalem] which Pompey had overthrown, and then to go over thecountry, and to quiet the tumults that were therein; where he partly threatened,and partly advised, every one, and told them that in case they would submitto Hyrcanus, they would live happily and peaceably, and enjoy what theypossessed, and that with universal peace and quietness; but that in casethey hearkened to such as had some frigid hopes by raising new troublesto get themselves some gain, they should then find him to be their lordinstead of their procurator; and find Hyrcanus to be a tyrant instead ofa king; and both the Romans and Caesar to be their enemies, instead ofrulers; for that they would not suffer him to be removed from the government,whom they had made their governor. And, at the same time that he said this,he settled the affairs of the country by himself, because he saw that Hyrcanuswas inactive, and not fit to manage the affairs of the kingdom. So he constitutedhis eldest son, Phasaelus, governor of Jerusalem, and of the parts aboutit; he also sent his next son, Herod, who was very young,(13)with equal authority into Galilee.

5. Now Herod was an active man, and soon found proper materials forhis active spirit to work upon. As therefore he found that Hezekias, thehead of the robbers, ran over the neighboring parts of Syria with a greatband of men, he caught him and slew him, and many more of the robbers withhim; which exploit was chiefly grateful to the Syrians, insomuch that hymnswere sung in Herod's commendation, both in the villages and in the cities,as having procured their quietness, and having preserved what they possessedto them; on which occasion he became acquainted with Sextus Caesar, a kinsmanof the great Caesar, and president of Syria. A just emulation of his gloriousactions excited Phasaelus also to imitate him. Accordingly, he procuredthe good-will of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, by his own management ofthe city affairs, and did not abuse his power in any disagreeable manner;whence it came to pass that the nation paid Antipater the respects thatwere due only to a king, and the honors they all yielded him were equalto the honors due to an absolute lord; yet did he not abate any part ofthat good-will or fidelity which he owed to Hyrcanus.

6. However, he found it impossible to escape envy in such his prosperity;for the glory of these young men affected even Hyrcanus himself alreadyprivately, though he said nothing of it to any body; but what he principallywas grieved at was the great actions of Herod, and that so many messengerscame one before another, and informed him of the great reputation he gotin all his undertakings. There were also many people in the royal palaceitself who inflamed his envy at him; those, I mean, who were obstructedin their designs by the prudence either of the young men, or of Antipater.These men said, that by committing the public affairs to the managementof Antipater and of his sons, he sat down with nothing but the bare nameof a king, without any of its authority; and they asked him how long hewould so far mistake himself, as to breed up kings against his own interest;for that they did not now conceal their government of affairs any longer,but were plainly lords of the nation, and had thrust him out of his authority;that this was the case when Herod slew so many men without his giving himany command to do it, either by word of mouth, or by his letter, and thisin contradiction to the law of the Jews; who therefore, in case he be nota king, but a private man, still ought to come to his trial, and answerit to him, and to the laws of his country, which do not permit any oneto be killed till he hath been condemned in judgment.

7. Now Hyrcanus was, by degrees, inflamed with these discourses, andat length could bear no longer, but he summoned Herod to take his trial.Accordingly, by his father's advice, and as soon as the affairs of Galileewould give him leave, he came up to [Jerusalem], when he had first placedgarrisons in Galilee; however, he came with a sufficient body of soldiers,so many indeed that he might not appear to have with him an army able tooverthrow Hyrcanus's government, nor yet so few as to expose him to theinsults of those that envied him. However, Sextus Caesar was in fear forthe young man, lest he should be taken by his enemies, and brought to punishment;so he sent some to denounce expressly to Hyrcanus that he should acquitHerod of the capital charge against him; who acquitted him accordingly,as being otherwise inclined also so to do, for he loved Herod.

8. But Herod, supposing that he had escaped punishment without the consentof the king, retired to Sextus, to Damascus, and got every thing ready,in order not to obey him if he should summon him again; whereupon thosethat were evil-disposed irritated Hyrcanus, and told him that Herod wasgone away in anger, and was prepared to make war upon him; and as the kingbelieved what they said, he knew not what to do, since he saw his antagonistwas stronger than he was himself. And now, since Herod was made generalof Coelesyria and Samaria by Sextus Caesar, he was formidable, not onlyfrom the good-will which the nation bore him, but by the power he himselfhad; insomuch that Hyrcanus fell into the utmost degree of terror, andexpected he would presently march against him with his army.

9. Nor was he mistaken in the conjecture he made; for Herod got hisarmy together, out of the anger he bare him for his threatening him withthe accusation in a public court, and led it to Jerusalem, in order tothrow Hyrcanus down from his kingdom; and this he had soon done, unlesshis father and brother had gone out together and broken the force of hisfury, and this by exhorting him to carry his revenge no further than tothreatening and affrighting, but to spare the king, under whom he had beenadvanced to such a degree of power; and that he ought not to be so muchprovoked at his being tried, as to forget to be thankful that he was acquitted;nor so long to think upon what was of a melancholy nature, as to be ungratefulfor his deliverance; and if we ought to reckon that God is the arbitratorof success in war, an unjust cause is of more disadvantage than an armycan be of advantage; and that therefore he ought not to be entirely confidentof success in a case where he is to fight against his king, his supporter,and one that had often been his benefactor, and that had never been severeto him, any otherwise than as he had hearkened to evil counselors, andthis no further than by bringing a shadow of injustice upon him. So Herodwas prevailed upon by these arguments, and supposed that what he had alreadydone was sufficient for his future hopes, and that he had enough shownhis power to the nation.

10. In the mean time, there was a disturbance among the Romans aboutApamia, and a civil war occasioned by the treacherous slaughter of SextusCaesar, by Cecilius Bassus, which he perpetrated out of his good-will toPompey; he also took the authority over his forces; but as the rest ofCaesar's commanders attacked Bassus with their whole army, in order topunish him for the murder of Caesar, Antipater also sent them assistanceby his sons, both on account of him that was murdered, and on account ofthat Caesar who was still alive, both of which were their friends; andas this war grew to be of a considerable length, Marcus came out of Italyas successor to Sextus.

1. THERE, was at this time a mighty war raised among the Romans uponthe sudden and treacherous slaughter of Caesar by Cassius and Brutus, afterhe had held the government for three years and seven months.(14)Upon this murder there were very great agitations, and the great men weremightily at difference one with another, and every one betook himself tothat party where they had the greatest hopes of their own, of advancingthemselves. Accordingly, Cassius came into Syria, in order to receive theforces that were at Apamia, where he procured a reconciliation betweenBassus and Marcus, and the legions which were at difference with him; sohe raised the siege of Apamia, and took upon him the command of the army,and went about exacting tribute of the cities, and demanding their moneyto such a degree as they were not able to bear.

2. So he gave command that the Jews should bring in seven hundred talents;whereupon Antipater, out of his dread of Cassius's threats, parted theraising of this sum among his sons, and among others of his acquaintance,and to be done immediately; and among them he required one Malichus, whowas at enmity with him, to do his part also, which necessity forced himto do. Now Herod, in the first place, mitigated the passion of Cassius,by bringing his share out of Galilee, which was a hundred talents, on whichaccount he was in the highest favor with him; and when he reproached therest for being tardy, he was angry at the cities themselves; so he madeslaves of Gophna and Emmaus, and two others of less note; nay, he proceededas if he would kill Malichus, because he had not made greater haste inexacting his tribute; but Antipater prevented the ruin of this man, andof the other cities, and got into Cassius's favor by bringing in a hundredtalents immediately.(15)

3. However, when Cassius was gone Malichus forgot the kindness thatAntipater had done him, and laid frequent plots against him that had savedhim, as making haste to get him out of the way, who was an obstacle tohis wicked practices; but Antipater was so much afraid of the power andcunning of the man, that he went beyond Jordan, in order to get an armyto guard himself against his treacherous designs; but when Malichus wascaught in his plot, he put upon Antipater's sons by his impudence, forhe thoroughly deluded Phasaelus, who was the guardian of Jerusalem, andHerod who was intrusted with the weapons of war, and this by a great manyexcuses and oaths, and persuaded them to procure his reconciliation tohis father. Thus was he preserved again by Antipater, who dissuaded Marcus,the then president of Syria, from his resolution of killing Malichus, onaccount of his attempts for innovation.

4. Upon the war between Cassius and Brutus on one side, against theyounger Caesar [Augustus] and Antony on the other, Cassius and Marcus gottogether an army out of Syria; and because Herod was likely to have a greatshare in providing necessaries, they then made him procurator of all Syria,and gave him an army of foot and horse. Cassius premised him also, thatafter the war was over, he would make him king of Judea. But it so happenedthat the power and hopes of his son became the cause of his perdition;for as Malichus was afraid of this, he corrupted one of the king's cup-bearerswith money to give a poisoned potion to Antipater; so he became a sacrificeto Malichus's wickedness, and died at a feast. He was a man in other respectsactive in the management of affairs, and one that recovered the governmentto Hyrcanus, and preserved it in his hands.

5. However, Malichus, when lie was suspected ef poisoning Antipater,and when the multitude was angry with him for it, denied it, and made thepeople believe he was not guilty. He also prepared to make a greater figure,and raised soldiers; for he did not suppose that Herod would be quiet,who indeed came upon him with an army presently, in order to revenge hisfather's death; but, upon hearing the advice of his brother Phasaelus,not to punish him in an open manner, lest the multitude should fall intoa sedition, he admitted of Malichus's apology, and professed that he clearedhim of that suspicion; he also made a pompous funeral for his father.

6. So Herod went to Samaria, which was then in a tumult, and settledthe city in peace; after which at the [Pentecost] festival, he returnedto Jerusalem, having his armed men with him: hereupon Hyrcanus, at therequest of Malichus, who feared his reproach, forbade them to introduceforeigners to mix themselves with the people of the country while theywere purifying themselves; but Herod despised the pretense, and him thatgave that command, and came in by night. Upon which Malithus came to him,and bewailed Antipater; Herod also made him believe [he admitted of hislamentations as real], although he had much ado to restrain his passionat him; however, he did himself bewail the murder of his father in hisletters to Cassius, who, on other accounts, also hated Malichus. Cassiussent him word back that he should avenge his father's death upon him, andprivately gave order to the tribunes that were under him, that they shouldassist Herod in a righteous action he was about.

7. And because, upon the taking of Laodicea by Cassius, the men of powerwere gotten together from all quarters, with presents and crowns in theirhands, Herod allotted this time for the punishment of Malichus. When Malichussuspected that, and was at Tyre, he resolved to withdraw his son privatelyfrom among the Tyrians, who was a hostage there, while he got ready tofly away into Judea; the despair he was in of escaping excited him to thinkof greater things; for he hoped that he should raise the nation to a revoltfrom the Romans, while Cassius was busy about the war against Antony, andthat he should easily depose Hyrcanus, and get the crown for himself.

8. But fate laughed at the hopes he had; for Herod foresaw what he wasso zealous about, and invited both Hyrcanus and him to supper; but callingone of the principal servants that stood by him to him, he sent him out,as though it were to get things ready for supper, but in reality to givenotice beforehand about the plot that was laid against him; accordinglythey called to mind what orders Cassius had given them, and went out ofthe city with their swords in their hands upon the sea-shore, where theyencompassed Malichus round about, and killed him with many wounds. Uponwhich Hyrcanus was immediately aftrighted, till he swooned away and felldown at the surprise he was in; and it was with difficulty that he wasrecovered, when he asked who it was that had killed Malichus. And whenone of the tribunes replied that it was done by the command of Cassius,"Then," said he, "Cassius hath saved both me and my country, bycutting off one that was laying plots against them both." Whetherhe spake according to his own sentiments, or whether his fear was suchthat he was obliged to commend the action by saying so, is uncertain; however,by this method Herod inflicted punishment upon Malichus.

1. WHEN Cassius was gone out of Syria, another sedition arose at Jerusalem,wherein Felix assaulted Phasaelus with an army, that he might revenge thedeath of Malichus upon Herod, by falling upon his brother. Now Herod happenedthen to be with Fabius, the governor of Damascus, and as he was going tohis brother's assistance, he was detained by sickness; in the mean time,Phasaelus was by himself too hard for Felix, and reproached Hyrcanus onaccount of his ingratitude, both for what assistance he had afforded Maliehus,and for overlooking Malichus's brother, when he possessed himself of thefortresses; for he had gotten a great many of them already, and among themthe strongest of them all, Masada.

2. However, nothing could be sufficient for him against the force ofHerod, who, as soon as he was recovered, took the other fortresses again,and drove him out of Masada in the posture of a supplicant; he also droveaway Marion, the tyrant of the Tyrians, out of Galilee, when he had alreadypossessed himself of three fortified places; but as to those Tyrians whomhe had caught, he preserved them all alive; nay, some of them he gave presentsto, and so sent them away, and thereby procured good-will to himself fromthe city, and hatred to the tyrant. Marion had indeed obtained that tyrannicalpower of Cassius, who set tyrants over all Syria(16)and out of hatred to Herod it was that he assisted Antigonus, the son ofAristobulus, and principally on Fabius's account, whom Antigonus had madehis assistant by money, and had him accordingly on his side when he madehis descent; but it was Ptolemy, the kinsman of Antigonus, that suppliedall that he wanted.

3. When Herod had fought against these in the avenues of Judea, he wasconqueror in the battle, and drove away Antigonus, and returned to Jerusalem,beloved by every body for the glorious action he had done; for those whodid not before favor him did join themselves to him now, because of hismarriage into the family of Hyrcanus; for as he had formerly married awife out of his own country of no ignoble blood, who was called Doris,of whom he begat Antipater; so did he now marry Mariamne, the daughterof Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, and the granddaughter of Hyrcanus,and was become thereby a relation of the king.

4. But when Caesar and Antony had slain Cassius near Philippi, and Caesarwas gone to Italy, and Antony to Asia, amongst the rest of the cities whichsent ambassadors to Antony unto Bithynia, the great men of the Jews camealso, and accused Phasaelus and Herod, that they kept the government byforce, and that Hyrcanus had no more than an honorable name. Herod appearedready to answer this accusation; and having made Antony his friend by thelarge sums of money which he gave him, he brought him to such a temperas not to hear the others speak against him; and thus did they part atthis time.

5. However, after this, there came a hundred of the principal men amongthe Jews to Daphne by Antioch to Antony, who was already in love with Cleopatrato the degree of slavery; these Jews put those men that were the most potent,both in dignity and eloquence, foremost, and accused the brethren.(17)But Messala opposed them, and defended the brethren, and that while Hyrcanusstood by him, on account of his relation to them. When Antony had heardboth sides, he asked Hyrcanus which party was the fittest to govern, whoreplied that Herod and his party were the fittest. Antony was glad of thatanswer, for he had been formerly treated in an hospitable and obligingmanner by his father Antipater, when he marched into Judea with Gabinius;so he constituted the brethren tetrarchs, and committed to them the governmentof Judea.

6. But when the ambassadors had indignation at this procedure, Antonytook fifteen of them, and put them into custody, whom he was also goingto kill presently, and the rest he drove away with disgrace; on which occasiona still greater tumult arose at Jerusalem; so they sent again a thousandambassadors to Tyre, where Antony now abode, as he was marching to Jerusalem;upon these men who made a clamor he sent out the governor of Tyre, andordered him to punish all that he could catch of them, and to settle thosein the administration whom he had made tetrarchs.

7. But before this Herod, and Hyrcanus went out upon the sea-shore,and earnestly desired of these ambassadors that they would neither bringruin upon themselves, nor war upon their native country, by their rashcontentions; and when they grew still more outrageous, Antony sent outarmed men, and slew a great many, and wounded more of them; of whom thosethat were slain were buried by Hyrcanus, as were the wounded put underthe care of physicians by him; yet would not those that had escaped bequiet still, but put the affairs of the city into such disorder, and soprovoked Antony, that he slew those whom he had in bonds also.

1. Now two years afterward, when Barzapharnes, a governor among theParthians, and Paeorus, the king's son, had possessed themselves of Syria,and when Lysanias had already succeeded upon the death of his father Ptolemy,the son of Menneus, in the government [of Chalcis], he prevailed with thegovernor, by a promise of a thousand talents, and five hundred women, tobring back Antigonus to his kingdom, and to turn Hyrcanus out of it. Pacoruswas by these means induced so to do, and marched along the sea-coast, whilehe ordered Barzapharnes to fall upon the Jews as he went along the Mediterraneanpart of the country; but of the maritime people, the Tyrians would notreceive Pacorus, although those of Ptolemais and Sidon had received him;so he committed a troop of his horse to a certain cup-bearer belongingto the royal family, of his own name [Pacorus], and gave him orders tomarch into Judea, in order to learn the state of affairs among their enemies,and to help Antigonus when he should want his assistance.

2. Now as these men were ravaging Carmel, many of the Jews ran togetherto Antigonus, and showed themselves ready to make an incursion into thecountry; so he sent them before into that place called Drymus, [the woodland(18) ]to seize upon the place; whereupon a battle was fought between them, andthey drove the enemy away, and pursued them, and ran after them as faras Jerusalem, and as their numbers increased, they proceeded as far asthe king's palace; but as Hyrcanus and Phasaelus received them with a strongbody of men, there happened a battle in the market-place, in which Herod'sparty beat the enemy, and shut them up in the temple, and set sixty menin the houses adjoining as a guard to them. But the people that were tumultuousagainst the brethren came in, and burnt those men; while Herod, in hisrage for killing them, attacked and slew many of the people, till one partymade incursions on the other by turns, day by day, in the way of ambushes,and slaughters were made continually among them.

3. Now when that festival which we call Pentecost was at hand, all theplaces about the temple, and the whole city, was full of a multitude ofpeople that were come out of the country, and which were the greatest partof them armed also, at which time Phasaelus guarded the wall, and Herod,with a few, guarded the royal palace; and when he made an assault uponhis enemies, as they were out of their ranks, on the north quarter of thecity, he slew a very great number of them, and put them all to flight;and some of them he shut up within the city, and others within the outwardrampart. In the mean time, Antigonus desired that Pacorus might be admittedto be a reconciler between them; and Phasaelus was prevailed upon to admitthe Parthian into the city with five hundred horse, and to treat him inan hospitable manner, who pretended that he came to quell the tumult, butin reality he came to assist Antigonus; however, he laid a plot for Phasaelus,and persuaded him to go as an ambassador to Barzapharnes, in order to putan end to the war, although Herod was very earnest with him to the contrary,and exhorted him to kill the plotter, but not expose himself to the snareshe had laid for him, because the barbarians are naturally perfidious. However,Pacorus went out and took Hyrcanus with him, that he might be the lesssuspected; he also(19)left some of the horsemen, called the Freemen, with Herod, and conductedPhasaelus with the rest.

4. But now, when they were come to Galilee, they found that the peopleof that country had revolted, and were in arms, who came very cunninglyto their leader, and besought him to conceal his treacherous intentionsby an obliging behavior to them; accordingly, he at first made them presents;and afterward, as they went away, laid ambushes for them; and when theywere come to one of the maritime cities called Ecdippon, they perceivedthat a plot was laid for them; for they were there informed of the promiseof a thousand talents, and how Antigonus had devoted the greatest numberof the women that were there with them, among the five hundred, to theParthians; they also perceived that an ambush was always laid for themby the barbarians in the night time; they had also been seized on beforethis, unless they had waited for the seizure of Herod first at Jerusalem,because if he were once informed of this treachery of theirs, he wouldtake care of himself; nor was this a mere report, but they saw the guardsalready not far off them.

5. Nor would Phasaelus think of forsaking Hyrcanus and flying away,although Ophellius earnestly persuaded him to it; for this man had learnedthe whole scheme of the plot from Saramalla, the richest of all the Syrians.But Phasaelus went up to the Parfilian governor, and reproached him tohis face for laying this treacherous plot against them, and chiefly becausehe had done it for money; and he promised him that he would give him moremoney for their preservation, than Antigonus had promised to give for thekingdom. But the sly Parthian endeavored to remove all this suspicion byapologies and by oaths, and then went [to the other] Pacorus; immediatelyafter which those Parthians who were left, and had it in charge, seizedupon Phasaelus and Hyrcanus, who could do no more than curse their perfidiousnessand their perjury.

6. In the mean time, the cup-bearer was sent [back], and laid a plothow to seize upon Herod, by deluding him, and getting him out of the city,as he was commanded to do. But Herod suspected the barbarians from thebeginning; and having then received intelligence that a messenger, whowas to bring him the letters that informed him of the treachery intended,had fallen among the enemy, he would not go out of the city; though Pacorussaid very positively that he ought to go out, and meet the messengers thatbrought the letters, for that the enemy had not taken them, and that thecontents of them were not accounts of any plots upon them, but of whatPhasaelus had done; yet had he heard from others that his brother was seized;and Alexandra(20)the shrewdest woman in the world, Hyrcanus's daughter, begged of him thathe would not go out, nor trust himself to those barbarians, who now werecome to make an attempt upon him openly.

7. Now as Pacorus and his friends were considering how they might bringtheir plot to bear privately, because it was not possible to circumventa man of so great prudence by openly attacking him, Herod prevented them,and went off with the persons that were the most nearly related to himby night, and this without their enemies being apprized of it. But as soonas the Parthians perceived it, they pursued after them; and as he gaveorders for his mother, and sister, and the young woman who was betrothedto him, with her mother, and his youngest brother, to make the best oftheir way, he himself, with his servants, took all the care they couldto keep off the barbarians; and when at every assault he had slain a greatmany of them, he came to the strong hold of Masada.

8. Nay, he found by experience that the Jews fell more heavily uponhim than did the Parthians, and created him troubles perpetually, and thisever since he was gotten sixty furlongs from the city; these sometimesbrought it to a sort of a regular battle. Now in the place where Herodbeat them, and killed a great number of them, there he afterward builta citadel, in memory of the great actions he did there, and adorned itwith the most costly palaces, and erected very strong fortifications, andcalled it, from his own name, Herodium. Now as they were in their flight,many joined themselves to him every day; and at a place called Thressaof Idumea his brother Joseph met him, and advised him to ease himself ofa great number of his followers, because Masada would not contain so greata multitude, which were above nine thousand. Herod complied with this advice,and sent away the most cumbersome part of his retinue, that they mightgo into Idumea, and gave them provisions for their journey; but he gotsafe to the fortress with his nearest relations, and retained with himonly the stoutest of his followers; and there it was that he left eighthundred of his men as a guard for the women, and provisions sufficientfor a siege; but he made haste himself to Petra of Arabia.

9. As for the Parthians in Jerusalem, they betook themselves to plundering,and fell upon the houses of those that were fled, and upon the king's palace,and spared nothing but Hyrcanus's money, which was not above three hundredtalents. They lighted on other men's money also, but not so much as theyhoped for; for Herod having a long while had a suspicion of the perfidiousnessof the barbarians, had taken care to have what was most splendid amonghis treasures conveyed into Idumea, as every one belonging to him had inlike manner done also. But the Parthians proceeded to that degree of injustice,as to fill all the country with war without denouncing it, and to demolishthe city Marissa, and not only to set up Antigonus for king, but to deliverPhasaelus and Hyrcanus bound into his. hands, in order to their being tormentedby him. Antigonus himself also bit off Hyrcanus's ears with his own teeth,as he fell down upon his knees to him, that so he might never be able uponany mutation of affairs to take the high priesthood again, for the highpriests that officiated were to be complete, and without blemish.

10. However, he failed in his purpose of abusing Phasaelus, by reasonof his courage; for though he neither had the command of his sword norof his hands, he prevented all abuses by dashing his head against a stone;so he demonstrated himself to be Herod's own brother, and Hyrcanus a mostdegenerate relation, and died with great bravery, and made the end of hislife agreeable to the actions of it. There is also another report abouthis end, viz. that he recovered of that stroke, and that a surgeon, whowas sent by Antigonus to heal him, filled the wound with poisonous ingredients,and so killed him; whichsoever of these deaths he came to, the beginningof it was glorious. It is also reported that before he expired he was informedby a certain poor woman how Herod had escaped out of their hands, and thathe said thereupon, "I now die with comfort, since I leave behind meone alive that will avenge me of mine enemies."

11. This was the death of Phasaelus; but the Parthians, although theyhad failed of the women they chiefly desired, yet did they put the governmentof Jerusalem into the hands of Antigonus, and took away Hyrcanus, and boundhim, and carried him to Parthia.

1. NOW Herod did the more zealously pursue his journey into Arabia,as making haste to get money of the king, while his brother was yet alive;by which money alone it was that he hoped to prevail upon the covetoustemper of the barbarians to spare Phasaelus; for he reasoned thus withhimself,: - that if the Arabian king was too forgetful of his father'sfriendship with him, and was too covetous to make him a free gift, he wouldhowever borrow of him as much as might redeem his brother, and put intohis hands, as a pledge, the son of him that was to be redeemed. Accordinglyhe led his brother's son along with him, who was of the age of seven years.Now he was ready to give three hundred talents for his brother, and intendedto desire the intercession of the Tyrians, to get them accepted; however,fate had been too quick for his diligence; and since Phasaelus was dead,Herod's brotherly love was now in vain. Moreover, he was not able to findany lasting friendship among the Arabians; for their king, Malichus, sentto him immediately, and commanded him to return back out of his country,and used the name of the Parthians as a pretense for so doing, as thoughthese had denounced to him by their ambassadors to cast Herod out of Arabia;while in reality they had a mind to keep back what they owed to Antipater,and not be obliged to make requitals to his sons for the free gifts thefather had made them. He also took the impudent advice of those who, equallywith himself, were willing to deprive Herod of what Antipater had depositedamong them; and these men were the most potent of all whom he had in hiskingdom.

2. So when Herod had found that the Arabians were his enemies, and thisfor those very reasons whence he hoped they would have been the most friendly,and had given them such an answer as his passion suggested, he returnedback, and went for Egypt. Now he lodged the first evening at one of thetemples of that country, in order to meet with those whom he left behind;but on the next day word was brought him, as he was going to Rhinocurura,that his brother was dead, and how he came by his death; and when he hadlamented him as much as his present circumstances could bear, he soon laidaside such cares, and proceeded on his journey. But now, after some time,the king of Arabia repented of what he had done, and sent presently awaymessengers to call him back: Herod had prevented them, and was come toPelusium, where he could not obtain a passage from those that lay withthe fleet, so he besought their captains to let him go by them; accordingly,out of the reverence they bore to the fame and dignity of the man, theyconducted him to Alexandria; and when he came into the city, he was receivedby Cleopatra with great splendor, who hoped he might be persuaded to becommander of her forces in the expedition she was now about; but he rejectedthe queen's solicitations, and being neither aftrighted at the height ofthat storm which. then happened, nor at the tumults that were now in Italy,he sailed for Rome.

3. But as he was in peril about Pamphylia, and obliged to cast out thegreatest part of the ship's lading, he with difficulty got safe to Rhodes,a place which had been grievously harassed in the war with Cassius. Hewas there received by his friends, Ptolemy and Sappinius; and althoughhe was then in want of money, he fitted up a three-decked ship of verygreat magnitude, wherein he and his friends sailed to Brundusium,(21)and went thence to Rome with all speed; where he first of all went to Antony,on account of the friendship his father had with him, and laid before himthe calamities of himself and his family; and that he had left his nearestrelations besieged in a fortress, and had sailed to him through a storm,to make supplication to him for assistance.

4. Hereupon Antony was moved to compassion at the change that had beenmade in Herod's affairs, and this both upon his calling to mind how hospitablyhe had been treated by Antipater, but more especially on account of Herod'sown virtue; so he then resolved to get him made king of the Jews, whomhe had himself formerly made tetrarch. The contest also that he had withAntigonus was another inducement, and that of no less weight than the greatregard he had for Herod; for he looked upon Antigonus as a seditious person,and an enemy of the Romans; and as for Caesar, Herod found him better preparedthan Antony, as remembering very fresh the wars he had gone through togetherwith his father, the hospitable treatment he had met with from him, andthe entire good-will he had showed to him; besides the activity which hesaw in Herod himself. So he called the senate together, wherein Messalas,and after him Atratinus, produced Herod before them, and gave a full accountof the merits of his father, and his own good-will to the Romans. At thesame time they demonstrated that Antigonus was their enemy, not only becausehe soon quarreled with them, but because he now overlooked the Romans,and took the government by the means of the Parthians. These reasons greatlymoved the senate; at which juncture Antony came in, and told them thatit was for their advantage in the Parthian war that Herod should be king;so they all gave their votes for it. And when the senate was separated,Antony and Caesar went out, with Herod between them; while the consul andthe rest of the magistrates went before them, in order to offer sacrifices,and to lay the decree in the Capitol. Antony also made a feast for Herodon the first day of his reign.

1. NOW during this time Antigonus besieged those that were in Masada,who had all other necessaries in sufficient quantity, but were in wantof water; on which account Joseph, Herod's brother, was disposed to runaway to the Arabians, with two hundred of his own friends, because he hadheard that Malichus repented of his offenses with regard to Herod; andhe had been so quick as to have been gone out of the fortress already,unless, on that very night when he was going away, there had fallen a greatdeal of rain, insomuch that his reservoirs were full of water, and so hewas under no necessity of running away. After which, therefore, they madean irruption upon Antigonus's party, and slew a great many of them, somein open battles, and some in private ambush; nor had they always successin their attempts, for sometimes they were beaten, and ran away.

2. In the mean time Ventidius, the Roman general, was sent out of Syria,to restrain the incursions of the Parthians; and after he had done that,he came into Judea, in pretense indeed to assist Joseph and his party,but in reality to get money of Antigonus;, and when he had pitched hiscamp very near to Jerusalem, as soon as he had got money enough, he wentaway with the greatest part of his forces; yet still did he leave Silowith some part of them, lest if he had taken them all away, his takingof bribes might have been too openly discovered. Now Antigonus hoped thatthe Parthians would come again to his assistance, and therefore cultivateda good understanding with Silo in the mean time, lest any interruptionshould be given to his hopes.

3. Now by this time Herod had sailed out of Italy, and was come to Ptolemais;and as soon as he had gotten together no small army of foreigners, andof his own countrymen, he marched through Galilee against Antigonus, whereinhe was assisted by Ventidius and Silo, both whom Dellius,(22)a person sent by Antony, persuaded to bring Herod [into his kingdom]. NowVentidius was at this time among the cities, and composing the disturbanceswhich had happened by means of the Parthians, as was Silo in Judea corruptedby the bribes that Antigonus had given him; yet was not Herod himself destituteof power, but the number of his forces increased every day as he went along,and all Galilee, with few exceptions, joined themselves to him. So he proposedto himself to set about his most necessary enterprise, and that was Masada,in order to deliver his relations from the siege they endured. But stillJoppa stood in his way, and hindered his going thither; for it was necessaryto take that city first, which was in the enemies' hands, that when heshould go to Jerusalem, no fortress might be left in the enemies' powerbehind him. Silo also willingly joined him, as having now a plausible occasionof drawing off his forces [from Jerusalem]; and when the Jews pursued him,and pressed upon him, [in his retreat,] Herod made all excursion upon themwith a small body of his men, and soon put them to flight, and saved Silowhen he was in distress.

4. After this Herod took Joppa, and then made haste to Masada to freehis relations. Now, as he was marching, many came in to him, induced bytheir friendship to his father, some by the reputation he had already gainedhimself, and some in order to repay the benefits they had received fromthem both; but still what engaged the greatest number on his side, wasthe hopes from him when he should be established in his kingdom; so thathe had gotten together already an army hard to be conquered. But Antigonuslaid an ambush for him as he marched out, in which he did little or noharm to his enemies. However, he easily recovered his relations again thatwere in Masada, as well as the fortress Ressa, and then marched to Jerusalem,where the soldiers that were with Silo joined themselves to his own, asdid many out of the city, from a dread of his power.

5. Now when he had pitched his camp on the west side of the city, theguards that were there shot their arrows and threw their darts at them,while others ran out in companies, and attacked those in the forefront;but Herod commanded proclamation to be made at the wall, that he was comefor the good of the people and the preservation of the city, without anydesign to be revenged on his open enemies, but to grant oblivion to them,though they had been the most obstinate against him. Now the soldiers thatwere for Antigonus made a contrary clamor, and did neither permit any bodyto hear that proclamation, nor to change their party; so Antigonus gaveorder to his forces to beat the enemy from the walls; accordingly, theysoon threw their darts at them from the towers, and put them to flight.

6. And here it was that Silo discovered he had taken bribes; for heset many of the soldiers to clamor about their want of necessaries, andto require their pay, in order to buy themselves food, and to demand thathe would lead them into places convenient for their winter quarters; becauseall the parts about the city were laid waste by the means of Antigonus'sarmy, which had taken all things away. By this he moved the army, and attemptedto get them off the siege; but Herod went to the captains that were underSilo, and to a great many of the soldiers, and begged of them not to leavehim, who was sent thither by Caesar, and Antony, and the senate; for thathe would take care to have their wants supplied that very day. After themaking of which entreaty, he went hastily into the country, and broughtthither so great an abundance of necessaries, that he cut off all Silo'spretenses; and in order to provide that for the following days they shouldnot want supplies, he sent to the people that were about Samaria (whichcity had joined itself to him) to bring corn, and wine, and oil, and cattleto Jericho. When Antigonus heard of this, be sent some of his party withorders to hinder, and lay ambushes for these collectors of corn. This commandwas obeyed, and a great multitude of armed men were gathered together aboutJericho, and lay upon the mountains, to watch those that brought the provisions.Yet was Herod not idle, but took with him ten cohorts, five of them wereRomans, and five were Jewish cohorts, together with some mercenary troopsintermixed among them, and besides those a few horsemen, and came to Jericho;and when he came, he found the city deserted, but that there were fivehundred men, with their wives and children, who had taken possession ofthe tops of the mountains; these he took, and dismissed them, while theRomans fell upon the rest of the city, and plundered it, having found thehouses full of all sorts of good things. So the king left a garrison atJericho, and came back, and sent the Roman army into those cities whichwere come over to him, to take their winter quarters there, viz. into Judea,[or Idumea,] and Galilee, and Samaria. Antigonus also by bribes obtainedof Silo to let a part of his army be received at Lydda, as a complimentto Antonius.

1. SO the Romans lived in plenty of all things, and rested from war.However, Herod did not lie at rest, but seized upon Idumea, and kept it,with two thousand footmen, and four hundred horsemen; and this he did bysending his brother Joseph thither, that no innovation might be made byAntigonus. He also removed his mother, and all his relations, who had beenin Masada, to Samaria; and when he had settled them securely, he marchedto take the remaining parts of Galilee, and to drive away the garrisonsplaced there by Antigonus.

2. But when Herod had reached Sepphoris,(23)in a very great snow, he took the city without any difficulty; the guardsthat should have kept it flying away before it was assaulted; where hegave an opportunity to his followers that had been in distress to refreshthemselves, there being in that city a great abundance of necessaries.After which he hasted away to the robbers that were in the caves, who overrana great part of the country, and did as great mischief to its inhabitantsas a war itself could have done. Accordingly, he sent beforehand threecohorts of footmen, and one troop of horsemen, to the village Arbela, andcame himself forty days afterwards(24)with the rest of his forces Yet were not the enemy aftrighted at his assaultbut met him in arms; for their skill was that of warriors, but their boldnesswas the boldness of robbers: when therefore it came to a pitched battle,they put to flight Herod's left wing with their right one; but Herod, wheelingabout on the sudden from his own right wing, came to their assistance,and both made his own left wing return back from its flight, and fell uponthe pursuers, and cooled their courage, till they could not bear the attemptsthat were made directly upon them, and so turned back and ran away.

3. But Herod followed them, and slew them as he followed them, and destroyeda great part of them, till those that remained were scattered beyond theriver [Jordan;] and Galilee was freed from the terrors they had been under,excepting from those that remained, and lay concealed in caves, which requiredlonger time ere they could be conquered. In order to which Herod, in thefirst place, distributed the fruits of their former labors to the soldiers,and gave every one of them a hundred and fifty drachmae of silver, anda great deal more to their commanders, and sent them into their winterquarters. He also sent to his youngest brother Pheroas, to take care ofa good market for them, where they might buy themselves provisions, andto build a wall about Alexandrium; who took care of both those injunctionsaccordingly.

4. In the mean time Antony abode at Athens, while Ventidius called forSilo and Herod to come to the war against the Parthians, but ordered themfirst to settle the affairs of Judea; so Herod willingly dismissed Siloto go to Ventidius, but he made an expedition himself against those thatlay in the caves. Now these caves were in the precipices of craggy mountains,and could not be come at from any side, since they had only some windingpathways, very narrow, by which they got up to them; but the rock thatlay on their front had beneath it valleys of a vast depth, and of an almostperpendicular declivity; insomuch that the king was doubtful for a longtime what to do, by reason of a kind of impossibility there was of attackingthe place. Yet did he at length make use of a contrivance that was subjectto the utmost hazard; for he let down the most hardy of his men in chests,and set them at the mouths of the dens. Now these men slew the robbersand their families, and when they made resistance, they sent in fire uponthem [and burnt them]; and as Herod was desirous of saving some of them,he had proclamation made, that they should come and deliver themselvesup to him; but not one of them came willingly to him; and of those thatwere compelled to come, many preferred death to captivity. And here a certainold man, the father of seven children, whose children, together with theirmother, desired him to give them leave to go out, upon the assurance andright hand that was offered them, slew them after the following manner:He ordered every one of them to go out, while he stood himself at the cave'smouth, and slew that son of his perpetually who went out. Herod was nearenough to see this sight, and his bowels of compassion were moved at it,and he stretched out his right hand to the old man, and besought him tospare his children; yet did not he relent at all upon what he said, butover and above reproached Herod on the lowness of his descent, and slewhis wife as well as his children; and when he had thrown their dead bodiesdown the precipice, he at last threw himself down after them.

5. By this means Herod subdued these caves, and the robbers that werein them. He then left there a part of his army, as many as he thought sufficientto prevent any sedition, and made Ptolemy their general, and returned toSamaria; he led also with him three thousand armed footmen, and six hundredhorsemen, against Antigonus. Now here those that used to raise tumultsin Galilee, having liberty so to do upon his departure, fell unexpectedlyupon Ptolemy, the general of his forces, and slew him; they also laid thecountry waste, and then retired to the bogs, and to places not easily tobe found. But when Herod was informed of this insurrection, he came tothe assistance of the country immediately, and destroyed a great numberof the seditions, and raised the sieges of all those fortresses they hadbesieged; he also exacted the tribute of a hundred talents of his enemies,as a penalty for the mutations they had made in the country.

6. By this time (the Parthians being already driven out of the country,and Pacorus slain) Ventidius, by Antony's command, sent a thousand horsemen,and two legions, as auxiliaries to Herod, against Antigonus. Now Antigonusbesought Macheras, who was their general, by letter, to come to his assistance,and made a great many mournful complaints about Herod's violence, and aboutthe injuries he did to the kingdom; and promised to give him money forsuch his assistance; but he complied not with his invitation to betrayhis trust, for he did not contemn him that sent him, especially while Herodgave him more money [than the other offered]. So he pretended friendshipto Antigonus, but came as a spy to discover his affairs; although he didnot herein comply with Herod, who dissuaded him from so doing. But Antigonusperceived what his intentions were beforehand, and excluded him out ofthe city, and defended himself against him as against an enemy, from thewalls; till Macheras was ashamed of what he had done, and retired to Emmausto Herod; and as he was in a rage at his disappointment, he slew all theJews whom he met with, without sparing those that were for Herod, but usingthem all as if they were for Antigonus.

7. Hereupon Herod was very angry at him, and was going to fight againstMacheras as his enemy; but he restrained his indignation, and marched toAntony to accuse Macheras of maladministration. But Macheras was made sensibleof his offenses, and followed after the king immediately, and earnestlybegged and obtained that he would be reconciled to him. However, Heroddid not desist from his resolution of going to Antony; but when he heardthat he was besieging Samosata(25)with a great army, which is a strong city near to Euphrates, he made thegreater haste; as observing that this was a proper opportunity for showingat once his courage, and for doing what would greatly oblige Antony. Indeed,when he came, he soon made an end of that siege, and slew a great numberof the barbarians, and took from them a large prey; insomuch that Antony,who admired his courage formerly, did now admire it still more. Accordingly,he heaped many more honors upon him, and gave him more assured hopes thathe should gain his kingdom; and now king Antiochus was forced to deliverup Samosata.

1. IN the mean time, Herod's affairs in Judea were in an ill state.He had left his brother Joseph with full power, but had charged him tomake no attempts against Antigonus till his return; for that Macheras wouldnot be such an assistant as he could depend on, as it appeared by whathe had done already; but as soon as Joseph heard that his brother was ata very great distance, he neglected the charge he had received, and marchedtowards Jericho with five cohorts, which Macheras sent with him. This movementwas intended for seizing on the corn, as it was now in the midst of summer;but when his enemies attacked him in the mountains, and in places whichwere difficult to pass, he was both killed himself, as he was very bravelyfighting in the battle, and the entire Roman cohorts were destroyed; forthese cohorts were new-raised men, gathered out of Syria, and here wasno mixture of those called veteran soldiers among them, who might havesupported those that were unskillful in war.

2. This victory was not sufficient for Antigonus; but he proceeded tothat degree of rage, as to treat the dead body of Joseph barbarously; forwhen he had got possession of the bodies of those that were slain, he cutoff his head, although his brother Pheroras would have given fifty talentsas a price of redemption for it. And now the affairs of Galilee were putin such disorder after this victory of Antigonus's, that those of Antigonus'sparty brought the principal men that were on Herod's side to the lake,and there drowned them. There was a great change made also in Idumea, whereMacheras was building a wall about one of the fortresses, which was calledGittha. But Herod had not yet been informed of these things; for afterthe taking of Samosata, and when Antony had set Sosius over the affairsof Syria, and had given him orders to assist Herod against Antigonus, hedeparted into Egypt; but Sosius sent two legions before him into Judeato assist Herod, and followed himself soon after with the rest of his army.

3. Now when Herod was at Daphne, by Antioch, he had some dreams whichclearly foreboded his brother's death; and as he leaped out of his bedin a disturbed manner, there came messengers that acquainted him with thatcalamity. So when he had lamented this misfortune for a while, he put offthe main part of his mourning, and made haste to march against his enemies;and when he had performed a march that was above his strength, and wasgone as far as Libanus, he got him eight hundred men of those that livednear to that mountain as his assistants, and joined with them one Romanlegion, with which, before it was day, he made an irruption into Galilee,and met his enemies, and drove them back to the place which they had left.He also made an immediate and continual attack upon the fortress. Yet washe forced by a most terrible storm to pitch his camp in the neighboringvillages before he could take it. But when, after a few days' time, thesecond legion, that came from Antony, joined themselves to him, the enemywere aftrighted at his power, and left their fortifications ill the nighttime.

4. After this he marched through Jericho, as making what haste he couldto be avenged on his brother's murderers; where happened to him a providentialsign, out of which, when he had unexpectedly escaped, he had the reputationof being very dear to God; for that evening there feasted with him manyof the principal men; and after that feast was over, and all the guestswere gone out, the house fell down immediately. And as he judged this tobe a common signal of what dangers he should undergo, and how he shouldescape them in the war that he was going about, he, in the morning, setforward with his army, when about six thousand of his enemies came runningdown from the mountains, and began to fight with those in his forefront;yet durst they not be so very bold as to engage the Romans hand to hand,but threw stones and darts at them at a distance; by which means they woundeda considerable number; in which action Herod's own side was wounded witha dart.

5. Now as Antigonus had a mind to appear to exceed Herod, not only inthe courage, but in the number of his men, he sent Pappus, one of his companions,with an army against Samaria, whose fortune it was to oppose Macheras;but Herod overran the enemy's country, and demolished five little cities,and destroyed two thousand men that were in them, and burned their houses,and then returned to his camp; but his head-quarters were at the villagecalled Cana.

6. Now a great multitude of Jews resorted to him every day, both outof Jericho and the other parts of the country. Some were moved so to doout of their hatred to Antigonus, and some out of regard to the gloriousactions Herod had done; but others were led on by an unreasonable desireof change; so he fell upon them immediately. As for Pappus and his party,they were not terrified either at their number or at their zeal, but marchedout with great alacrity to fight them; and it came to a close fight. Nowother parts of their army made resistance for a while; but Herod, runningthe utmost hazard, out of the rage he was in at the murder of his brother,that he might be avenged on those that had been the authors of it, soonbeat those that opposed him; and after he had beaten them, he always turnedhis force against those that stood to it still, and pursued them all; sothat a great slaughter was made, while some were forced back into thatvillage whence they came out; he also pressed hard upon the hindermost,and slew a vast number of them; he also fell into the village with theenemy, where every house was filled with armed men, and the upper roomswere crowded above with soldiers for their defense; and when he had beatenthose that were on the outside, he pulled the houses to pieces, and pluckedout those that were within; upon many he had the roofs shaken down, wherebythey perished by heaps; and as for those that fled out of the ruins, thesoldiers received them with their swords in their hands; and the multitudeof those slain and lying on heaps was so great, that the conquerors couldnot pass along the roads. Now the enemy could not bear this blow, so thatwhen the multitude of them which was gathered together saw that those inthe village were slain, they dispersed themselves, and fled away; uponthe confidence of which victory, Herod had marched immediately to Jerusalem,unless he tad been hindered by the depth of winter's [coming on]. Thiswas the impediment that lay in the way of this his entire glorious progress,and was what hindered Antigonus from being now conquered, who was alreadydisposed to forsake the city.

7. Now when at the evening Herod had already dismissed his friends torefresh themselves after their fatigue, and when he was gone himself, whilehe was still hot in his armor, like a common soldier, to bathe himself,and had but one servant that attended him, and before he was gotten intothe bath, one of the enemies met him in the face with a sword in his hand,and then a second, and then a third, and after that more of them; thesewere men who had run away out of the battle into the bath in their armor,and they had lain there for some time in, great terror, and in privacy;and when they saw the king, they trembled for fear, and ran by him in aflight, although he was naked, and endeavored to get off into the publicroad. Now there was by chance nobody else at hand that might seize uponthese men; and for Herod, he was contented to have come to no harm himself,so that they all got away in safety.

8. But on the next day Herod had Pappus's head cut off, who was thegeneral for Antigonus, and was slain in the battle, and sent it to hisbrother Pheroras, by way of punishment for their slain brother; for hewas the man that slew Joseph. Now as winter was going off, Herod marchedto Jerusalem, and brought his army to the wall of it; this was the thirdyear since he had been made king at Rome; so he pitched his camp beforethe temple, for on that side it might be besieged, and there it was thatPompey took the city. So he parted the work among the army, and demolishedthe suburbs, end raised three banks, and gave orders to have towers builtupon those banks, and left the most laborious of his acquaintance at theworks. But he went himself to Samaria, to take the daughter of Alexander,the son of Aristobulus, to wife, who had been betrothed to him before,as we have already said; and thus he accomplished this by the by, duringthe siege of the city, for he had his enemies in great contempt already.

9. When he had thus married Mariamne, he came back to Jerusalem witha greater army. Sosius also joined him with a large army, both of horsemenand footmen, which he sent before him through the midland parts, whilehe marched himself along Phoenicia; and when the whole army was gottentogether, which were eleven regiments of footmen, and six thousand horsemen,besides the Syrian auxiliaries, which were no small part of the army, theypitched their camp near to the north wall. Herod's dependence was uponthe decree of the senate, by which he was made king; and Sosius reliedupon Antony, who sent the army that was under him to Herod's assistance.

1. NOW the multitude of the Jews that were in the city were dividedinto several factions; for the people that crowded about the temple, beingthe weaker part of them, gave it out that, as the times were, he was thehappiest and most religious man who should die first. But as to the morebold and hardy men, they got together in bodies, and fell a robbing othersafter various manners, and these particularly plundered the places thatwere about the city, and this because there was no food left either forthe horses or the men; yet some of the warlike men, who were used to fightregularly, were appointed to defend the city during the siege, and thesedrove those that raised the banks away from the wall; and these were alwaysinventing some engine or another to be a hinderance to the engines of theenemy; nor had they so much success any way as in the mines under ground.

2. Now as for the robberies which were committed, the king contrivedthat ambushes should be so laid, that they might restrain their excursions;and as for the want of provisions, he provided that they should be broughtto them from great distances. He was also too hard for the Jews, by theRomans' skill in the art of war; although they were bold to the utmostdegree, now they durst not come to a plain battle with the Romans, whichwas certain death; but through their mines under ground they would appearin the midst of them on the sudden, and before they could batter down onewall, they built them another in its stead; and to sum up all at once,they did not show any want either of painstaking or of contrivances, ashaving resolved to hold out to the very last. Indeed, though they had sogreat an army lying round about them, they bore a siege of five months,till some of Herod's chosen men ventured to get upon the wall, and fellinto the city, as did Sosius's centurions after them; and now they firstof all seized upon what was about the temple; and upon the pouring in ofthe army, there was slaughter of vast multitudes every where, by reasonof the rage the Romans were in at the length of this siege, and by reasonthat the Jews who were about Herod earnestly endeavored that none of theiradversaries might remain; so they were cut to pieces by great multitudes,as they were crowded together in narrow streets, and in houses, or wererunning away to the temple; nor was there any mercy showed either to infants,or to the aged, or to the weaker sex; insomuch that although the king sentabout and desired them to spare the people, nobody could be persuaded towithhold their right hand from slaughter, but they slew people of all ages,like madmen. Then it was that Antigonus, without any regard to his formeror to his present fortune, came down from the citadel, and fell at Sosius'sfeet, who without pitying him at all, upon the change of his condition,laughed at him beyond measure, and called him Antigona.(26)Yet did he not treat him like a woman, or let him go free, but put himinto bonds, and kept him in custody.

3. But Herod's concern at present, now he had gotten his enemies underhis power, was to restrain the zeal of his foreign auxiliaries; for themultitude of the strange people were very eager to see the temple, andwhat was sacred in the holy house itself; but the king endeavored to restrainthem, partly by his exhortations, partly by his threatenings, nay, partlyby force, as thinking the victory worse than a defeat to him, if any thingthat ought not to be seen were seen by them. He also forbade, at the sametime, the spoiling of the city, asking Sosius in the most earnest manner,whether the Romans, by thus emptying the city of money and men, had a mindto leave him king of a desert, - and told him that he judged the dominionof the habitable earth too small a compensation for the slaughter of somany citizens. And when Sosius said that it was but just to allow the soldiersthis plunder as a reward for what they suffered during the siege, Herodmade answer, that he would give every one of the soldiers a reward outof his own money. So he purchased the deliverance of his country, and performedhis promises to them, and made presents after a magnificent manner to eachsoldier, and proportionably to their commanders, and with a most royalbounty to Sosius himself, whereby nobody went away but in a wealthy condition.Hereupon Sosius dedicated a crown of gold to God, and then went away fromJerusalem, leading Antigonus away in bonds to Antony; then did the axebring him to his end,(27)who still had a fond desire of life, and some frigid hopes of it to thelast, but by his cowardly behavior well deserved to die by it.

4. Hereupon king Herod distinguished the multitude that was in the city;and for those that were of his side, he made them still more his friendsby the honors he conferred on them; but for those of Antigonus's party,he slew them; and as his money ran low, he turned all the ornaments hehad into money, and sent it to Antony, and to those about him. Yet couldhe not hereby purchase an exemption from all sufferings; for Antony wasnow bewitched by his love to Cleopatra, and was entirely conquered by hercharms. Now Cleopatra had put to death all her kindred, till no one nearher in blood remained alive, and after that she fell a slaying those noway related to her. So she calumniated the principal men among the Syriansto Antony, and persuaded him to have them slain, that so she might easilygain to be mistress of what they had; nay, she extended her avaricioushumor to the Jews and Arabians, and secretly labored to have Herod andMalichus, the kings of both those nations, slain by his order.

5. Now is to these her injunctions to Antony, he complied in part; forthough he esteemed it too abominable a thing to kill such good and greatkings, yet was he thereby alienated from the friendship he had for them.He also took away a great deal of their country; nay, even the plantationof palm trees at Jericho, where also grows the balsam tree, and bestowedthem upon her; as also all the cities on this side the river Eleutherus,Tyre and Sidon(28)excepted. And when she was become mistress of these, and had conductedAntony in his expedition against the Parthians as far as Euphrates, shecame by Apamia and Damascus into Judea and there did Herod pacify her indignationat him by large presents. He also hired of her those places that had beentorn away from his kingdom, at the yearly rent of two hundred talents.He conducted her also as far as Pelusium, and paid her all the respectspossible. Now it was not long after this that Antony was come back fromParthia, and led with him Artabazes, Tigranes's son, captive, as a presentfor Cleopatra; for this Parthian was presently given her, with his money,and all the prey that was taken with him.

1. NOW when the war about Actium was begun, Herod prepared to come tothe assistance of Antony, as being already freed from his troubles in Judea,and having gained Hyrcania, which was a place that was held by Antigonus'ssister. However, he was cunningly hindered from partaking of the hazardsthat Antony went through by Cleopatra; for since, as we have already noted,she had laid a plot against the kings [of Judea and Arabia], she prevailedwith Antony to commit the war against the Arabians to Herod; that so, ifhe got the better, she might become mistress of Arabia, or, if he wereworsted, of Judea; and that she might destroy one of those kings by theother.

2. However, this contrivance tended to the advantage of Herod; for atthe very first he took hostages from the enemy, and got together a greatbody of horse, and ordered them to march against them about Diespous; andhe conquered that army, although it fought resolutely against him. Afterwhich defeat, the Arabians were in great motion, and assembled themselvestogether at Kanatha, a city of Celesyria, in vast multitudes, and waitedfor the Jews. And when Herod was come thither, he tried to manage thiswar with particular prudence, and gave orders that they should build awall about their camp; yet did not the multitude comply with those orders,but were so emboldened by their foregoing victory, that they presentlyattacked the Arabians, and beat them at the first onset, and then pursuedthem; yet were there snares laid for Herod in that pursuit; while Athenio,who was one of Cleopatra's generals, and always an antagonist to Herod,sent out of Kanatha the men of that country against him; for, upon thisfresh onset, the Arabians took courage, and returned back, and both joinedtheir numerous forces about stony places, that were hard to be gone over,and there put Herod's men to the rout, and made a great slaughter of them;but those that escaped out of the battle fled to Ormiza, where the Arabianssurrounded their camp, and took it, with all the men in it.

3. In a little time after this calamity, Herod came to bring them succors;but he came too late. Now the occasion of that blow was this, that theofficers would not obey orders; for had not the fight begun so suddenly,Athenio had not found a proper season for the snares he laid for Herod:however, he was even with the Arabians afterward, and overran their country,and did them more harm than their single victory could compensate. Butas he was avenging himself on his enemies, there fell upon him anotherprovidential calamity; for in the seventh(29)year of his reign, when the war about Actium was at the height, at thebeginning of the spring, the earth was shaken, and destroyed an immensenumber of cattle, with thirty thousand men; but the army received no harm,because it lay in the open air. In the mean time, the fame of this earthquakeelevated the Arabians to greater courage, and this by augmenting it toa fabulous height, as is constantly the case in melancholy accidents, andpretending that all Judea was overthrown. Upon this supposal, therefore,that they should easily get a land that was destitute of inhabitants intotheir power, they first sacrificed those ambassadors who were come to themfrom the Jews, and then marched into Judea immediately. Now the Jewishnation were affrighted at this invasion, and quite dispirited at the greatnessof their calamities one after another; whom yet Herod got together, andendeavored to encourage to defend themselves by the following speech whichhe made to them:

4. "The present dread you are under seems to me to have seizedupon you very unreasonably. It is true, you might justly be dismayed atthat providential chastisement which hath befallen you; but to suffer yourselvesto be equally terrified at the invasion of men is unmanly. As for myself,I am so far from being aftrighted at our enemies after this earthquake,that I imagine that God hath thereby laid a bait for the Arabians, thatwe may be avenged on them; for their present invasion proceeds more fromour accidental misfortunes, than that they have any great dependence ontheir weapons, or their own fitness for action. Now that hope which dependsnot on men's own power, but on others' ill success, is a very ticklishthing; for there is no certainty among men, either in their bad or goodfortunes; but we may easily observe that fortune is mutable, and goes fromone side to another; and this you may readily learn from examples amongyourselves; for when you were once victors in the former fight, your enemiesovercame you at last; and very likely it will now happen so, that thesewho think themselves sure of beating you will themselves be beaten. Forwhen men are very confident, they are not upon their guard, while fearteaches men to act with caution; insomuch that I venture to prove fromyour very timorousness that you ought to take courage; for when you weremore bold than you ought to have been, and than I would have had you, andmarched on, Athenio's treachery took place; but your present slowness andseeming dejection of mind is to me a pledge and assurance of victory. Andindeed it is proper beforehand to be thus provident; but when we come toaction, we ought to erect our minds, and to make our enemies, be they everso wicked, believe that neither any human, no, nor any providential misfortune,can ever depress the courage of Jews while they are alive; nor will anyof them ever overlook an Arabian, or suffer such a one to become lord ofhis good things, whom he has in a manner taken captive, and that many timesalso. And do not you disturb yourselves at the quaking of inanimate creatures,nor do you imagine that this earthquake is a sign of another calamity;for such affections of the elements are according to the course of nature,nor does it import any thing further to men, than what mischief it doesimmediately of itself. Perhaps there may come some short sign beforehandin the case of pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes; but these calamitiesthemselves have their force limited by themselves [without foreboding anyother calamity]. And indeed what greater mischief can the war, though itshould be a violent one, do to us than the earthquake hath done? Nay, thereis a signal of our enemies' destruction visible, and that a very greatone also; and this is not a natural one, nor derived from the hand of foreignersneither, but it is this, that they have barbarously murdered our ambassadors,contrary to the common law of mankind; and they have destroyed so many,as if they esteemed them sacrifices for God, in relation to this war. Butthey will not avoid his great eye, nor his invincible right hand; and weshall be revenged of them presently, in case we still retain any of thecourage of our forefathers, and rise up boldly to punish these covenant-breakers.Let every one therefore go on and fight, not so much for his wife or hischildren, or for the danger his country is in, as for these ambassadorsof ours; those dead ambassadors will conduct this war of ours better thanwe ourselves who are alive. And if you will be ruled by me, I will myselfgo before you into danger; for you know this well enough, that your courageis irresistible, unless you hurt yourselves by acting rashly.(30)

5. When Herod had encouraged them by this speech, and he saw with whatalacrity they went, he offered sacrifice to God; and after that sacrifice,he passed over the river Jordan with his army, and pitched his camp aboutPhiladelphia, near the enemy, and about a fortification that lay betweenthem. He then shot at them at a distance, and was desirous to come to anengagement presently; for some of them had been sent beforehand to seizeupon that fortification: but the king sent some who immediately beat themout of the fortification, while he himself went in the forefront of thearmy, which he put in battle-array every day, and invited the Arabiansto fight. But as none of them came out of their camp, for they were ina terrible fright, and their general, Elthemus, was not able to say a wordfor fear, - so Herod came upon them, and pulled their fortification topieces, by which means they were compelled to come out to fight, whichthey did in disorder, and so that the horsemen and foot-men were mixedtogether. They were indeed superior to the Jews in number, but inferiorin their alacrity, although they were obliged to expose themselves to dangerby their very despair of victory.

6. Now while they made opposition, they had not a great number slain;but as soon as they turned their backs, a great many were trodden to piecesby the Jews, and a great many by themselves, and so perished, till fivethousand were fallen down dead in their flight, while the rest of the multitudeprevented their immediate death, by crowding into the fortification. Herodencompassed these around, and besieged them; and while they were readyto be taken by their enemies in arms, they had another additional distressupon them, which was thirst and want of water; for the king was above hearkeningto their ambassadors; and when they offered five hundred talents, as theprice of their redemption, he pressed still harder upon them. And as theywere burnt up by their thirst, they came out and voluntarily deliveredthemselves up by multitudes to the Jews, till in five days' time four thousandof them were put into bonds; and on the sixth day the multitude that wereleft despaired of saving themselves, and came out to fight: with theseHerod fought, and slew again about seven thousand, insomuch that he punishedArabia so severely, and so far extinguished the spirits of the men, thathe was chosen by the nation for their ruler.

1. BUT now Herod was under immediate concern about a most importantaffair, on account of his friendship with Antony, who was already overcomeat Actium by Caesar; yet he was more afraid than hurt; for Caesar did notthink he had quite undone Antony, while Herod continued his assistanceto him. However, the king resolved to expose himself to dangers: accordinglyhe sailed to Rhodes, where Caesar then abode, and came to him without hisdiadem, and in the habit and appearance of a private person, but in hisbehavior as a king. So he concealed nothing of the truth, but spike thusbefore his face: "O Caesar, as I was made king of the Jews by Antony,so do I profess that I have used my royal authority in the best manner,and entirely for his advantage; nor will I conceal this further, that thouhadst certainly found me in arms, and an inseparable companion of his,had not the Arabians hindered me. However, I sent him as many auxiliariesas I was able, and many ten thousand [cori] of corn. Nay, indeed, I didnot desert my benefactor after the bow that was given him at Actium; butI gave him the best advice I was able, when I was no longer able to assisthim in the war; and I told him that there was but one way of recoveringhis affairs, and that was to kill Cleopatra; and I promised him that, ifshe were once dead, I would afford him money and walls for his security,with an army and myself to assist him in his war against thee: but hisaffections for Cleopatra stopped his ears, as did God himself also whohath bestowed the government on thee. I own myself also to be overcometogether with him; and with his last fortune I have laid aside my diadem,and am come hither to thee, having my hopes of safety in thy virtue; andI desire that thou wilt first consider how faithful a friend, and not whosefriend, I have been."

2. Caesar replied to him thus: "Nay, thou shalt not only be insafety, but thou shalt be a king; and that more firmly than thou wast before;for thou art worthy to reign over a great many subjects, by reason of thefastness of thy friendship; and do thou endeavor to be equally constantin thy friendship to me, upon my good success, which is what I depend uponfrom the generosity of thy disposition. However, Antony hath done wellin preferring Cleopatra to thee; for by this means we have gained theeby her madness, and thus thou hast begun to be my friend before I beganto be thine; on which account Quintus Didius hath written to me that thousentest him assistance against the gladiators. I do therefore assure theethat I will confirm the kingdom to thee by decree: I shall also endeavorto do thee some further kindness hereafter, that thou mayst find no lossin the want of Antony."

3. When Caesar had spoken such obliging things to the king, and hadput the diadem again about his head, he proclaimed what he had bestowedon him by a decree, in which he enlarged in the commendation of the manafter a magnificent manner. Whereupon Herod obliged him to be kind to himby the presents he gave him, and he desired him to forgive Alexander, oneof Antony's friends, who was become a supplicant to him. But Caesar's angeragainst him prevailed, and he complained of the many and very great offensesthe man whom he petitioned for had been guilty of; and by that means herejected his petition. After this Caesar went for Egypt through Syria,when Herod received him with royal and rich entertainments; and then didhe first of all ride along with Caesar, as he was reviewing his army aboutPtolemais, and feasted him with all his friends, and then distributed amongthe rest of the army what was necessary to feast them withal. He also madea plentiful provision of water for them, when they were to march as faras Pelusium, through a dry country, which he did also in like manner attheir return thence; nor were there any necessaries wanting to that army.It was therefore the opinion, both of Caesar and of his soldiers, thatHerod's kingdom was too small for those generous presents he made them;for which reason, when Caesar was come into Egypt, and Cleopatra and Antonywere dead, he did not only bestow other marks of honor upon him, but madean addition to his kingdom, by giving him not only the country which hadbeen taken from him by Cleopatra, but besides that, Gadara, and Hippos,and Samaria; and moreover, of the maritime cities, Gaza(31)and Anthedon, and Joppa, and Strato's Tower. He also made him a presentof four hundred Galls [Galatians] as a guard for his body, which they hadbeen to Cleopatra before. Nor did any thing so strongly induce Caesar tomake these presents as the generosity of him that received them.

4. Moreover, after the first games at Actium, he added to his kingdomboth the region called Trachonitis, and what lay in its neighborhood, Batanea,and the country of Auranitis; and that on the following occasion: Zenodorus,who had hired the house of Lysanias, had all along sent robbers out ofTrachonitis among the Damascenes; who thereupon had recourse to Varro,the president of Syria, and desired of him that he would represent thecalamity they were in to Caesar. When Caesar was acquainted with it, hesent back orders that this nest of robbers should be destroyed. Varro thereforemade an expedition against them, and cleared the land of those men, andtook it away from Zenodorus. Caesar did also afterward bestow it on Herod,that it might not again become a receptacle for those robbers that hadcome against Damascus. He also made him a procurator of all Syria, andthis on the tenth year afterward, when he came again into that province;and this was so established, that the other procurators could not do anything in the administration without his advice: but when Zenodorus wasdead, Caesar bestowed on him all that land which lay between Trachonitisand Galilee. Yet, what was still of more consequence to Herod, he was belovedby Caesar next after Agrippa, and by Agrippa next after Caesar; whencehe arrived at a very great degree of felicity. Yet did the greatness ofhis soul exceed it, and the main part of his magnanimity was extended tothe promotion of piety.

1. ACCORDINGLY, in the fifteenth year of his reign, Herod rebuilt thetemple, and encompassed a piece of land about it with a wall, which landwas twice as large as that before enclosed. The expenses he laid out uponit were vastly large also, and the riches about it were unspeakable. Asign of which you have in the great cloisters that were erected about thetemple, and the citadel which was on its north side. The cloisters he builtfrom the foundation, but the citadel(32)he repaired at a vast expense; nor was it other than a royal palace, whichhe called Antonia, in honor of Antony. He also built himself a palace inthe Upper city, containing two very large and most beautiful apartments;to which the holy house itself could not be compared [in largeness]. Theone apartment he named Caesareum, and the other Agrippium, from his [twogreat] friends.

2. Yet did he not preserve their memory by particular buildings only,with their names given them, but his generosity went as far as entire cities;for when he had built a most beautiful wall round a country in Samaria,twenty furlongs long, and had brought six thousand inhabitants into it,and had allotted to it a most fruitful piece of land, and in the midstof this city, thus built, had erected a very large temple to Caesar, andhad laid round about it a portion of sacred land of three furlongs anda half, he called the city Sebaste, from Sebastus, or Augustus, and settledthe affairs of the city after a most regular manner.

3. And when Caesar had further bestowed upon him another additionalcountry, he built there also a temple of white marble, hard by the fountainsof Jordan: the place is called Panium, where is a top of a mountain thatis raised to an immense height, and at its side, beneath, or at its bottom,a dark cave opens itself; within which there is a horrible precipice, thatdescends abruptly to a vast depth; it contains a mighty quantity of water,which is immovable; and when any body lets down any thing to measure thedepth of the earth beneath the water, no length of cord is sufficient toreach it. Now the fountains of Jordan rise at the roots of this cavityoutwardly; and, as some think, this is the utmost origin of Jordan: butwe shall speak of that matter more accurately in our following history.

4. But the king erected other places at Jericho also, between the citadelCypros and the former palace, such as were better and more useful thanthe former for travelers, and named them from the same friends of his.To say all at once, there was not any place of his kingdom fit for thepurpose that was permitted to be without somewhat that was for Caesar'shonor; and when he had filled his own country with temples, he poured outthe like plentiful marks of his esteem into his province, and built manycities which he called Cesareas.

5. And when he observed that there was a city by the sea-side that wasmuch decayed, (its name was Strato's Tower,) but that the place, by thehappiness of its situation, was capable of great improvements from hisliberality, he rebuilt it all with white stone, and adorned it with severalmost splendid palaces, wherein he especially demonstrated his magnanimity;for the case was this, that all the sea-shore between Dora and Joppa, inthe middle, between which this city is situated, had no good haven, insomuchthat every one that sailed from Phoenicia for Egypt was obliged to liein the stormy sea, by reason of the south winds that threatened them; whichwind, if it blew but a little fresh, such vast waves are raised, and dashupon the rocks, that upon their retreat the sea is in a great ferment fora long way. But the king, by the expenses he was at, and the liberal disposalof them, overcame nature, and built a haven larger than was the Pyrecum(33) [atAthens]; and in the inner retirements of the water he built other deepstations [for the ships also].

6. Now although the place where he built was greatly opposite to hispurposes, yet did he so fully struggle with that difficulty, that the firmnessof his building could not easily be conquered by the sea; and the beautyand ornament of the works were such, as though he had not had any difficultyin the operation; for when he had measured out as large a space as we havebefore mentioned, he let down stones into twenty fathom water, the greatestpart of which were fifty feet in length, and nine in depth, and ten inbreadth, and some still larger. But when the haven was filled up to thatdepth, he enlarged that wall which was thus already extant above the sea,till it was two hundred feet wide; one hundred of which had buildings beforeit, in order to break the force of the waves, whence it was called Procumatia,or the first breaker of the waves; but the rest of the space was undera stone wall that ran round it. On this wall were very large towers, theprincipal and most beautiful of which was called Drusium, from Drusus,who was son-in-law to Caesar.

7. There were also a great number of arches, where the mariners dwelt;and all the places before them round about was a large valley, or walk,for a quay [or landing-place] to those that came on shore; but the entrancewas on the north, because the north wind was there the most gentle of allthe winds. At the mouth of the haven were on each side three great Colossi,supported by pillars, where those Colossi that are on your left hand asyou sail into the port are supported by a solid tower; but those on theright hand are supported by two upright stones joined together, which stoneswere larger than that tower which was on the other side of the entrance.Now there were continual edifices joined to the haven, which were alsothemselves of white stone; and to this haven did the narrow streets ofthe city lead, and were built at equal distances one from another. Andover against the mouth of the haven, upon an elevation, there was a templefor Caesar, which was excellent both in beauty and largeness; and thereinwas a Colossus of Caesar, not less than that of Jupiter Olympius, whichit was made to resemble. The other Colossus of Rome was equal to that ofJuno at Argos. So he dedicated the city to the province, and the havento the sailors there; but the honor of the building he ascribed to Caesar,(34) andnamed it Cesarea accordingly.

8. He also built the other edifices, the amphitheater, and theater,and market-place, in a manner agreeable to that denomination; and appointedgames every fifth year, and called them, in like manner, Caesar's Games;and he first himself proposed the largest prizes upon the hundred ninety-secondolympiad; in which not only the victors themselves, but those that camenext to them, and even those that came in the third place, were partakersof his royal bounty. He also rebuilt Anthedon, a city that lay on the coast,and had been demolished in the wars, and named it Agrippeum. Moreover,he had so very great a kindness for his friend Agrippa, that he had hisname engraved upon that gate which he had himself erected in the temple.

9. Herod was also a lover of his father, if any other person ever wasso; for he made a monument for his father, even that city which he builtin the finest plain that was in his kingdom, and which had rivers and treesin abundance, and named it Antipatris. He also built a wall about a citadelthat lay above Jericho, and was a very strong and very fine building, anddedicated it to his mother, and called it Cypros. Moreover, he dedicateda tower that was at Jerusalem, and called it by the name of his brotherPhasaelus, whose structure, largeness, and magnificence we shall describehereafter. He also built another city in the valley that leads northwardfrom Jericho, and named it Phasaelis.

10. And as he transmitted to eternity his family and friends, so didhe not neglect a memorial for himself, but built a fortress upon a mountaintowards Arabia, and named it from himself, Herodium(35)and he called that hill that was of the shape of a woman's breast, andwas sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem, by the same name. He also bestowedmuch curious art upon it, with great ambition, and built round towers allabout the top of it, and filled up the remaining space with the most costlypalaces round about, insomuch that not only the sight of the inner apartmentswas splendid, but great wealth was laid out on the outward walls, and partitions,and roofs also. Besides this, he brought a mighty quantity of water froma great distance, and at vast charges, and raised an ascent to it of twohundred steps of the whitest marble, for the hill was itself moderatelyhigh, and entirely factitious. He also built other palaces about the rootsof the hill, sufficient to receive the furniture that was put into them,with his friends also, insomuch that, on account of its containing allnecessaries, the fortress might seem to be a city, but, by the bounds ithad, a palace only.

11. And when he had built so much, he showed the greatness of his soulto no small number of foreign cities. He built palaces for exercise atTripoli, and Damascus, and Ptolemais; he built a wall about Byblus, asalso large rooms, and cloisters, and temples, and market-places at Berytusand Tyre, with theatres at Sidon and Damascus. He also built aqueductsfor those Laodiceans who lived by the sea-side; and for those of Ascalonhe built baths and costly fountains, as also cloisters round a court, thatwere admirable both for their workmanship and largeness. Moreover, he dedicatedgroves and meadows to some people; nay, not a few cities there were whohad lands of his donation, as if they were parts of his own kingdom. Healso bestowed annual revenues, and those for ever also, on the settlementsfor exercises, and appointed for them, as well as for the people of Cos,that such rewards should never be wanting. He also gave corn to all suchas wanted it, and conferred upon Rhodes large sums of money for buildingships; and this he did in many places, and frequently also. And when Apollo'stemple had been burnt down, he rebuilt it at his own charges, after a bettermanner than it was before. What need I speak of the presents he made tothe Lycians and Samnians? or of his great liberality through all Ionia?and that according to every body's wants of them. And are not the Athenians,and Lacedemonians, and Nicopolitans, and that Pergamus which is in Mysia,full of donations that Herod presented them withal? And as for that largeopen place belonging to Antioch in Syria, did not he pave it with polishedmarble, though it were twenty furlongs long? and this when it was shunnedby all men before, because it was full of dirt and filthiness, when hebesides adorned the same place with a cloister of the same length.

12. It is true, a man may say, these were favors peculiar to those particularplaces on which he bestowed his benefits; but then what favors he bestowedon the Eleans was a donation not only in common to all Greece, but to allthe habitable earth, as far as the glory of the Olympic games reached.For when he perceived that they were come to nothing, for want of money,and that the only remains of ancient Greece were in a manner gone, he notonly became one of the combatants in that return of the fifth-year games,which in his sailing to Rome he happened to be present at, but he settledupon them revenues of money for perpetuity, insomuch that his memorialas a combatant there can never fail. It would be an infinite task if Ishould go over his payments of people's debts, or tributes, for them, ashe eased the people of Phasaelis, of Batanea, and of the small cities aboutCilicia, of those annual pensions they before paid. However, the fear hewas in much disturbed the greatness of his soul, lest he should be exposedto envy, or seem to hunt after greater filings than he ought, while hebestowed more liberal gifts upon these cities than did their owners themselves.

13. Now Herod had a body suited to his soul, and was ever a most excellenthunter, where he generally had good success, by the means of his greatskill in riding horses; for in one day he caught forty wild beasts:(36)that country breeds also bears, and the greatest part of it is replenishedwith stags and wild asses. He was also such a warrior as could not be withstood:many men, therefore, there are who have stood amazed at his readiness inhis exercises, when they saw him throw the javelin directly forward, andshoot the arrow upon the mark. And then, besides these performances ofhis depending on his own strength of mind and body, fortune was also veryfavorable to him; for he seldom failed of success in his wars; and whenhe failed, he was not himself the occasion of such failings, but he eithervas betrayed by some, or the rashness of his own soldiers procured hisdefeat.

1. HOWEVER, fortune was avenged on Herod in his external great successes,by raising him up domestical troubles; and he began to have wild disordersin his family, on account of his wife, of whom he was so very fond. Forwhen he came to the government, he sent away her whom he had before marriedwhen he was a private person, and who was born at Jerusalem, whose namewas Doris, and married Mariamne, the daughter of Alexander, the son ofAristobulus; on whose account disturbances arose in his family, and thatin part very soon, but chiefly after his return from Rome. For, first ofall, he expelled Antipater the son of Doris, for the sake of his sons byMariamne, out of the city, and permitted him to come thither at no othertimes than at the festivals. After this he slew his wife's grandfather,Hyrcanus, when he was returned out of Parthin to him, under this pretense,that he suspected him of plotting against him. Now this Hyrcanus had beencarried captive to Barzapharnes, when he overran Syria; but those of hisown country beyond Euphrates were desirous he would stay with them, andthis out of the commiseration they had for his condition; and had he compliedwith their desires, when they exhorted him not to go over the river tolierod, he had not perished: but the marriage of his granddaughter [toHerod] was his temptation; for as he relied upon him, and was over-fondof his own country, he came back to it. Herod's provocation was this, -not that Hyrcanus made any attempt to gain the kingdom, but that it wasfitter for him to be their king than for Herod.

2. Now of the five children which Herod had by Mariamne, two of themwere daughters, and three were sons; and the youngest of these sons waseducated at Rome, and there died; but the two eldest he treated as thoseof royal blood, on account of the nobility of their mother, and becausethey were not born till he was king. But then what was stronger than allthis was the love that he bare to Mariamne, and which inflamed him everyday to a great degree, and so far conspired with the other motives, thathe felt no other troubles, on account of her he loved so entirely. ButMariamne's hatred to him was not inferior to his love to her. She had indeedbut too just a cause of indignation from what he had done, while her boldnessproceeded from his affection to her; so she openly reproached him withwhat he had done to her grandfather Hyrcanus, and to her brother Aristobulus;for he had not spared this Aristobulus, though he were but a child; forwhen he had given him the high priesthood at the age of seventeen, he slewhim quickly after he had conferred that dignity upon him; but when Aristobulushad put on the holy vestments, and had approached to the altar at a festival,the multitude, in great crowds, fell into tears; whereupon the child wassent by night to Jericho, and was there dipped by the Galls, at Herod'scommand, in a pool till he was drowned.

3. For these reasons Mariamne reproached Herod, and his sister and mother,after a most contumelious manner, while he was dumb on account of his affectionfor her; yet had the women great indignation at her, and raised a calumnyagainst her, that she was false to his bed; which thing they thought mostlikely to move Herod to anger. They also contrived to have many other circumstancesbelieved, in order to make the thing more credible, and accused her ofhaving sent her picture into Egypt to Antony, and that her lust was soextravagant, as to have thus showed herself, though she was absent, toa man that ran mad after women, and to a man that had it in his power touse violence to her. This charge fell like a thunderbolt upon Herod, andput him into disorder; and that especially, because his love to her occasionedhim to be jealous, and because he considered with himself that Cleopatrawas a shrewd woman, and that on her account Lysanias the king was takenoff, as well as Malichus the Arabian; for his fear did not only extendto the dissolving of his marriage, but to the danger of his life.

4. When therefore he was about to take a journey abroad, he committedhis wife to Joseph, his sister Salome's husband, as to one who would befaithful to him, and bare him good-will on account of their kindred; healso gave him a secret injunction, that if Antony slew him, he should slayher. But Joseph, without any ill design, and only in order to demonstratethe king's love to his wife, how he could not bear to think of being separatedfrom her, even by death itself, discovered this grand secret to her; uponwhich, when Herod was come back, and as they talked together, and he confirmedhis love to her by many oaths, and assured her that he had never such anaffection for any other woman as he had for her, - " Yes," saysshe, "thou didst, to be sure, demonstrate thy love to me by the injunctionsthou gavest Joseph, when thou commandedst him to kill me."(37)

5. When he heard that this grand secret was discovered, he was likea distracted man, and said that Joseph would never have disclosed thatinjunction of his, unless he had debauched her. His passion also made himstark mad, and leaping out of his bed, he ran about the palace after awild manner; at which time his sister Salome took the opportunity alsoto blast her reputation, and confirmed his suspicion about Joseph; whereupon,out of his ungovernable jealousy and rage, he commanded both of them tobe slain immediately; but as soon as ever his passion was over, he repentedof what he had done, and as soon as his anger was worn off, his affectionswere kindled again. And indeed the flame of his desires for her was soardent, that he could not think she was dead, but would appear, under hisdisorders, to speak to her as if she were still alive, till he were betterinstructed by time, when his grief and trouble, now she was dead, appearedas great as his affection had been for her while she was living.

1. NOW Mariamne's sons were heirs to that hatred which had been bornetheir mother; and when they considered the greatness of Herod's crime towardsher, they were suspicious of him as of an enemy of theirs; and this firstwhile they were educated at Rome, but still more when they were returnedto Judea. This temper of theirs increased upon them as they grew up tobe men; and when they were Come to an age fit for marriage, the one ofthem married their aunt Salome's daughter, which Salome had been the accuserof their mother; the other married the daughter of Archclaus, king of Cappadocia.And now they used boldness in speaking, as well as bore hatred in theirminds. Now those that calumniated them took a handle from such their boldness,and certain of them spake now more plainly to the king that there weretreacherous designs laid against him by both his sons; and he that wasson-in-law to Archelaus, relying upon his father-in-law, was preparingto fly away, in order to accuse Herod before Caesar; and when Herod's headhad been long enough filled with these calumnies, he brought Antipater,whom he had by Doris, into favor again, as a defense to him against hisother sons, and began all the ways he possibly could to prefer him beforethem.

2. But these sons were not able to bear this change in their affairs;but when they saw him that was born of a mother of no family, the nobilityof their birth made them unable to contain their indignation; but whensoeverthey were uneasy, they showed the anger they had at it. And as these sonsdid day after day improve in that their anger, Antipater already exercisedall his own abilities, which were very great, in flattering his father,and in contriving many sorts of calumnies against his brethren, while hetold some stories of them himself, and put it upon other proper personsto raise other stories against them, till at length he entirely cut hisbrethren off from all hopes of succeeding to the kingdom; for he was alreadypublicly put into his father's will as his successor. Accordingly, he wassent with royal ornaments, and other marks of royalty, to Caesar, exceptingthe diadem. He was also able in time to introduce his mother again intoMariamne's bed. The two sorts of weapons he made use of against his brethrenwere flattery and calumny, whereby he brought matters privately to sucha pass, that the king had thoughts of putting his sons to death.

3. So the father drew Alexander as far as Rome, and. charged him withan attempt of poisoning him before Caesar. Alexander could hardly speakfor lamentation; but having a judge that was more skillful than Antipater,and more wise than Herod, he modestly avoided laying any imputation uponhis father, but with great strength of reason confuted the calumnies laidagainst him; and when he had demonstrated the innocency of his brother,who was in the like danger with himself, he at last bewailed the craftinessof Antipater, and the disgrace they were under. He was enabled also tojustify himself, not only by a clear conscience, which he carried withinhim, but by his eloquence; for he was a shrewd man in making speeches.And upon his saying at last, that if his father objected this crime tothem, it was in his power to put them to death, he made all the audienceweep; and he brought Caesar to that pass, as to reject the accusations,and to reconcile their father to them immediately. But the conditions ofthis reconciliation were these, that they should in all things be obedientto their father, and that he should have power to leave the kingdom towhich of them he pleased.

4. After this the king came back from Rome, and seemed to have forgivenhis sons upon these accusations; but still so that he was not without hissuspicions of them. They were followed by Antipater, who was the fountain-headof those accusations; yet did not he openly discover his hatred to them,as revering him that had reconciled them. But as Herod sailed by Cilicia,he touched at Eleusa,(38)where Archclaus treated them in the most obliging manner, and gave himthanks for the deliverance of his son-in-law, and was much pleased at theirreconciliation; and this the more, because he had formerly written to hisfriends at Rome that they should be assisting to Alexander at his trial.So he conducted Herod as far as Zephyrium, and made him presents to thevalue of thirty talents.

5. Now when Herod was come to Jerusalem, he gathered the people together,and presented to them his three sons, and gave them an apologetic accountof his absence, and thanked God greatly, and thanked Caesar greatly also,for settling his house when it was under disturbances, and had procuredconcord among his sons, which was of greater consequence than the kingdomitself, -" and which I will render still more firm; for Caesar hathput into my power to dispose of the government, and to appoint my successor.Accordingly, in way of requital for his kindness, and in order to providefor mine own advantage, I do declare that these three sons of mine shallbe kings. And, in the first place, I pray for the approbation of God towhat I am about; and, in the next place, I desire your approbation also.The age of one of them, and the nobility of the other two, shall procurethem the succession. Nay, indeed, my kingdom is so large that it may besufficient for more kings. Now do you keep those in their places whom Caesarhath joined, and their father hath appointed; and do not you pay undueor unequal respects to them, but to every one according to the prerogativeof their births; for he that pays such respects unduly, will thereby notmake him that is honored beyond what his age requires so joyful, as hewill make him that is dishonored sorrowful. As for the kindred and friendsthat are to converse with them, I will appoint them to each of them, andwill so constitute them, that they may be securities for their concord;as well knowing that the ill tempers of those with whom they converse willproduce quarrels and contentions among them; but that if these with whomthey converse be of good tempers, they will preserve their natural affectionsfor one another. But still I desire that not these only, but all the captainsof my army, have for the present their hopes placed on me alone; for Ido not give away my kingdom to these my sons, but give them royal honorsonly; whereby it will come to pass that they will enjoy the sweet partsof government as rulers themselves, but that the burden of administrationwill rest upon myself whether I will or not. And let every one considerwhat age I am of, how I have conducted my life, and what piety I have exercised;for my age is not so great that men may soon expect the end of my life;nor have I indulged such a luxurious way of living as cuts men off whenthey are young; and we have been so religious towards God, that we [havereason to hope we] may arrive at a very great age. But for such as cultivatea friendship with my sons, so as to aim at my destruction, they shall bepunished by me on their account. I am not one who envy my own children,and therefore forbid men to pay them great respect; but I know that such[extravagant] respects are the way to make them insolent. And if everyone that comes near them does but revolve this in his mind, that if heprove a good man, he shall receive a reward from me, but that if he proveseditious, his ill-intended complaisance shall get him nothing from himto whom it is shown, I suppose they will all be of my side, that is, ofmy sons' side; for it will be for their advantage that I reign, and thatI be at concord with them. But do you, O my good children, reflect uponthe holiness of nature itself, by whose means natural affection is preserved,even among wild beasts; in the next place, reflect upon Caesar, who hathmade this reconciliation among us; and in the third place, reflect uponme, who entreat you to do what I have power to command you, - continuebrethren. I give you royal garments, and royal honors; and I pray to Godto preserve what I have determined, in case you be at concord one withanother." When the king had thus spoken, and had saluted every oneof his sons after an obliging manner, he dismissed the multitude; someof which gave their assent to what he had said, and wished it might takeeffect accordingly; but for those who wished for a change of affairs, theypretended they did not so much as hear what he said.

1. BUT now the quarrel that was between them still accompanied thesebrethren when they parted, and the suspicions they had one of the othergrew worse. Alexander and Aristobulus were much grieved that the privilegeof the first-born was confirmed to Antipater; as was Antipater very angryat his brethren that they were to succeed him. But then this last beingof a disposition that was mutable and politic, he knew how to hold histongue, and used a great deal of cunning, and thereby concealed the hatredhe bore to them; while the former, depending on the nobility of their births,had every thing upon their tongues which was in their minds. Many alsothere were who provoked them further, and many of their [seeming] friendsinsinuated themselves into their acquaintance, to spy out what they did.Now every thing that was said by Alexander was presently brought to Antipater,and from Antipater it was brought to Herod with additions. Nor could theyoung man say any thing in the simplicity of his heart, without givingoffense, but what he said was still turned to calumny against him. Andif he had been at any time a little free in his conversation, great imputationswere forged from the smallest occasions. Antipater also was perpetuallysetting some to provoke him to speak, that the lies he raised of him mightseem to have some foundation of truth; and if, among the many stories thatwere given out, but one of them could be proved true, that was supposedto imply the rest to be true also. And as to Antipater's friends, theywere all either naturally so cautious in speaking, or had been so far bribedto conceal their thoughts, that nothing of these grand secrets got abroadby their means. Nor should one be mistaken if he called the life of Antipatera mystery of wickedness; for he either corrupted Alexander's acquaintancewith money, or got into their favor by flatteries; by which two means hegained all his designs, and brought them to betray their master, and tosteal away, and reveal what he either did or said. Thus did he act a partvery cunningly in all points, and wrought himself a passage by his calumnieswith the greatest shrewdness; while he put on a face as if he were a kindbrother to Alexander and Aristobulus, but suborned other men to informof what they did to Herod. And when any thing was told against Alexander,he would come in, and pretend [to be of his side], and would begin to contradictwhat was said; but would afterward contrive matters so privately, thatthe king should have an indignation at him. His general aim was this, -to lay a plot, and to make it believed that Alexander lay in wait to killhis father; for nothing afforded so great a confirmation to these calumniesas did Antipater's apologies for him.

2. By these methods Herod was inflamed, and as much as his natural affectionto the young men did every day diminish, so much did it increase towardsAntipater. The courtiers also inclined to the same conduct, some of theirown accord, and others by the king's injunction, as particularly did Ptolemy,the king's dearest friend, as also the king's brethren, and all his children;for Antipater was all in all; and what was the bitterest part of all toAlexander, Antipater's mother was also all in all; she was one that gavecounsel against them, and was more harsh than a step-mother, and one thathated the queen's sons more than is usual to hate sons-in-law. All mendid therefore already pay their respects to Antipater, in hopes of advantage;and it was the king's command which alienated every body [from the brethren],he having given this charge to his most intimate friends, that they shouldnot come near, nor pay any regard, to Alexander, or to his friends. Herodwas also become terrible, not only to his domestics about the court, butto his friends abroad; for Caesar had given such a privilege to no otherking as he had given to him, which was this, - that he might fetch backany one that fled from him, even out of a city that was not under his ownjurisdiction. Now the young men were not acquainted with the calumniesraised against them; for which reason they could not guard themselves againstthem, but fell under them; for their father did not make any public complaintsagainst either of them; though in a little time they perceived how thingswere by his coldness to them, and by the great uneasiness he showed uponany thing that troubled him. Antipater had also made their uncle Pherorasto be their enemy, as well as their aunt Salome, while he was always talkingwith her, as with a wife, and irritating her against them. Moreover, Alexander'swife, Glaphyra, augmented this hatred against them, by deriving her nobilityand genealogy [from great persons], and pretending that she was a ladysuperior to all others in that kingdom, as being derived by her father'sside from Temenus, and by her mother's side from Darius, the son of Hystaspes.She also frequently reproached Herod's sister and wives with the ignobilityof their descent; and that they were every one chosen by him for theirbeauty, but not for their family. Now those wives of his were not a few;it being of old permitted to the Jews to marry many wives,(39)and this king delighting in many; all which hated Alexander, on accountof Glaphyra's boasting and reproaches.

3. Nay, Aristobulus had raised a quarrel between himself and Salome,who was his mother-in-law, besides the anger he had conceived at Glaphyra'sreproaches; for he perpetually upbraided his wife with the meanness ofher family, and complained, that as he had married a woman of a low family,so had his brother Alexander married one of royal blood. At this Salome'sdaughter wept, and told it her with this addition, that Alexander threatenedthe mothers of his other brethren, that when he should come to the crown,he would make them weave with their maidens, and would make those brothersof his country schoolmasters; and brake this jest upon them, that theyhad been very carefully instructed, to fit them for such an employment.Hereupon Salome could not contain her anger, but told all to Herod; norcould her testimony be suspected, since it was against her own son-in-lawThere was also another calumny that ran abroad and inflamed the king'smind; for he heard that these sons of his were perpetually speaking oftheir mother, and, among their lamentations for her, did not abstain fromcursing him; and that when he made presents of any of Mariamne's garmentsto his later wives, these threatened that in a little time, instead ofroyal garments, they would clothe theft in no better than hair-cloth.

4. Now upon these accounts, though Herod was somewhat afraid of theyoung men's high spirit, yet did he not despair of reducing them to a bettermind; but before he went to Rome, whither he was now going by sea, he calledthem to him, and partly threatened them a little, as a king; but for themain, he admonished them as a father, and exhorted them to love their brethren,and told them that he would pardon their former offenses, if they wouldamend for the time to come. But they refuted the calumnies that had beenraised of them, and said they were false, and alleged that their actionswere sufficient for their vindication; and said withal, that he himselfought to shut his ears against such tales, and not be too easy in believingthem, for that there would never be wanting those that would tell liesto their disadvantage, as long as any would give ear to them.

5. When they had thus soon pacified him, as being their father, theygot clear of the present fear they were in. Yet did they see occasion forsorrow in some time afterward; for they knew that Salome, as well as theiruncle Pheroras, were their enemies; who were both of them heavy and severepersons, and especially Pheroras, who was a partner with Herod in all theaffairs of the kingdom, excepting his diadem. He had also a hundred talentsof his own revenue, and enjoyed the advantage of all the land beyond Jordan,which he had received as a gift from his brother, who had asked of Caesarto make him a tetrarch, as he was made accordingly. Herod had also givenhim a wife out of the royal family, who was no other than his own wife'ssister, and after her death had solemnly espoused to him his own eldestdaughter, with a dowry of three hundred talents; but Pheroras refused toconsummate this royal marriage, out of his affection to a maidservant ofhis. Upon which account Herod was very angry, and gave that daughter inmarriage to a brother's son of his, [Joseph,] who was slain afterward bythe Parthians; but in some time he laid aside his anger against Pheroras,and pardoned him, as one not able to overcome his foolish passion for themaid-servant.

6. Nay, Pheroras had been accused long before, while the queen [Mariamne]was alive, as if he were in a plot to poison Herod; and there came thenso great a number of informers, that Herod himself, though he was an exceedinglover of his brethren, was brought to believe what was said, and to beafraid of it also. And when he had brought many of those that were undersuspicion to the torture, he came at last to Pheroras's own friends; noneof which did openly confess the crime, but they owned that he had madepreparation to take her whom he loved, and run away to the Parthians. Costobarusalso, the husband of Salome, to whom the king had given her in marriage,after her former husband had been put to death for adultery, was instrumentalin bringing about this contrivance and flight of his. Nor did Salome escapeall calumny upon herself; for her brother Pheroras accused her that shehad made an agreement to marry Silleus, the procurator of Obodas, kingof Arabia, who was at bitter enmity with Herod; but when she was convictedof this, and of all that Pheroras had accused her of, she obtained herpardon. The king also pardoned Pheroras himself the crimes he had beenaccused of.

7. But the storm of the whole family was removed to Alexander, and allof it rested upon his head. There were three eunuchs who were in the highestesteem with the king, as was plain by the offices they were in about him;for one of them was appointed to be his butler, another of them got hissupper ready for him, and the third put him into bed, and lay down by him.Now Alexander had prevailed with these men, by large gifts, to let himuse them after an obscene manner; which, when it was told to the king,they were tortured, and found guilty, and presently confessed the criminalconversation he had with them. They also discovered the promises by whichthey were induced so to do, and how they were deluded by Alexander, whohad told them that they ought not to fix their hopes upon Herod, an oldman, and one so shameless as to color his hair, unless they thought thatwould make him young again; but that they ought to fix their attentionto him who was to be his successor in the kingdom, whether he would ornot; and who in no long time would avenge himself on his enemies, and makehis friends happy and blessed, and themselves in the first place; thatthe men of power did already pay respects to Alexander privately, and thatthe captains of the soldiery, and the officers, did secretly come to him.

8. These confessions did so terrify Herod, that he durst not immediatelypublish them; but he sent spies abroad privately, by night and by day,who should make a close inquiry after all that was done and said; and whenany were but suspected [of treason], he put them to death, insomuch thatthe palace was full of horribly unjust proceedings; for every body forgedcalumnies, as they were themselves in a state of enmity or hatred againstothers; and many there were who abused the king's bloody passion to thedisadvantage of those with whom they had quarrels, and lies were easilybelieved, and punishments were inflicted sooner than the calumnies wereforged. He who had just then been accusing another was accused himself,and was led away to execution together with him whom he had convicted;for the danger the king was in of his life made examinations be very short.He also proceeded to such a degree of bitterness, that he could not lookon any of those that were not accused with a pleasant countenance, butwas in the most barbarous disposition towards his own friends. Accordingly,he forbade a great many of them to come to court, and to those whom hehad not power to punish actually he spake harshly. But for Antipater, heinsulted Alexander, now he was under his misfortunes, and got a stout companyof his kindred together, and raised all sorts of calumny against him; andfor the king, he was brought to such a degree of terror by those prodigiousslanders and contrivances, that he fancied he saw Alexander coming to himwith a drawn sword in his hand. So he caused him to be seized upon immediately,and bound, and fell to examining his friends by torture, many of whom died[under the torture], but would discover nothing, nor say any thing againsttheir consciences; but some of them, being forced to speak falsely by thepains they endured, said that Alexander, and his brother Aristobulus, plottedagainst him, and waited for an opportunity to kill him as he was hunting,and then fly away to Rome. These accusations though they were of an incrediblenature, and only framed upon the great distress they were in, were readilybelieved by the king, who thought it some comfort to him, after he hadbound his son, that it might appear he had not done it unjustly.

1. NOW as to Alexander, since he perceived it impossible to persuadehis father [that he was innocent], he resolved to meet his calamities,how severe soever they were; so he composed four books against his enemies,and confessed that he had been in a plot; but declared withal that thegreatest part [of the courtiers] were in a plot with him, and chiefly Pherorasand Salome; nay, that Salome once came and forced him to lie with her inthe night time, whether he would or no. These books were put into Herod'shands, and made a great clamor against the men in power. And now it wasthat Archelaus came hastily into Judea, as being affrighted for his son-in-lawand his daughter; and he came as a proper assistant, and in a very prudentmanner, and by a stratagem he obliged the king not to execute what he hadthreatened; for when he was come to him, he cried out, "Where in theworld is this wretched son-in-law of mine? Where shall I see the head ofhim which contrived to murder his father, which I will tear to pieces withmy own hands? I will do the same also to my daughter, who hath such a finehusband; for although she be not a partner in the plot, yet, by being thewife of such a creature, she is polluted. And I cannot but admire at thypatience, against whom this plot is laid, if Alexander be still alive;for as I came with what haste I could from Cappadocia, I expected to findhim put to death for his crimes long ago; but still, in order to make anexamination with thee about my daughter, whom, out of regard to thee andby dignity, I had espoused to him in marriage; but now we must take counselabout them both; and if thy paternal affection be so great, that thou canstnot punish thy son, who hath plotted against thee, let us change our righthands, and let us succeed one to the other in expressing our rage uponthis occasion."

2. When he had made this pompous declaration, he got Herod to remitof his anger, though he were in disorder, who thereupon gave him the bookswhich Alexander had composed to be read by him; and as he came to everyhead, he considered of it, together with Herod. So Archclaus took hencethe occasion for that stratagem which he made use of, and by degrees helaid the blame on those men whose names were in these books, and especiallyupon Pheroras; and when he saw that the king believed him [to he in earnest],he said, "We must consider whether the young man be not himself plottedagainst by such a number of wicked wretches, and not thou plotted againstby the young man; for I cannot see any occasion for his falling into sohorrid a crime, since he enjoys the advantages of royalty already, andhas the expectation of being one of thy successors; I mean this, unlessthere were some persons that persuade him to it, and such persons as makean ill use of the facility they know there is to persuade young men; forby such persons, not only young men are sometimes imposed upon, but oldmen also, and by them sometimes are the most illustrious families and kingdomsoverturned."

3. Herod assented to what he had said, and, by degrees, abated of hisanger against Alexander, but was more angry at Pheroras; for the principalsubject of the four books was Pheroras; who perceiving that the king'sinclinations changed on a sudden, and that Archelaus's friendship coulddo every thing with him, and that he had no honorable method of preservinghimself, he procured his safety by his impudence. So he left Alexander,and had recourse to Archelaus, who told him that he did not see how hecould get him excused, now he was directly caught in so many crimes, wherebyit was evidently demonstrated that he had plotted against the king, andhad been the cause of those misfortunes which the young man was now under,unless he would moreover leave off his cunning knavery, and his denialsof what he was charged withal, and confess the charge, and implore pardonof his brother, who still had a kindness for him; but that if he woulddo so, he would afford him all the assistance he was able.

4. With this advice Pheroras complied, and putting himself into sucha habit as might most move compassion, he came with black cloth upon hisbody, and tears in his eyes, and threw himself down at Herod's feet, andbegged his pardon for what he had done, and confessed that he had actedvery wickedly, and was guilty of every thing that he had been accused of,and lamented that disorder of his mind, and distraction which his loveto a woman, he said, had brought him to. So when Archelaus had broughtPheroras to accuse and bear witness against himself, he then made an excusefor him, and mitigated Herod's anger towards him, and this by using certaindomestical examples; for that when he had suffered much greater mischiefsfrom a brother of his own, he prefered the obligations of nature beforethe passion of revenge; because it is in kingdoms as it is in gross bodies,where some member or other is ever swelled by the body's weight, in whichcase it is not proper to cut off such member, but to heal it by a gentlemethod of cure.

5. Upon Arehelaus's saying this, and much more to the same purpose,Herod's displeasure against Pheroras was mollified; yet did he perseverein his own indignation against Alexander, and said he would have his daughterdivorced, and taken away from him, and this till he had brought Herod tothat pass, that, contrary to his former behavior to him, he petitionedArchelaus for the young man, and that he would let his daughter continueespoused to him: but Archelaus made him strongly believe that he wouldpermit her to be married to any one else, but not to Alexander, becausehe looked upon it as a very valuable advantage, that the relation theyhad contracted by that affinity, and the privileges that went along withit, might be preserved. And when the king said that his son would takeit for a great favor to him, if he would not dissolve that marriage, especiallysince they had already children between the young man and her, and sincethat wife of his was so well beloved by him, and that as while she remainshis wife she would be a great preservative to him, and keep him from offending,as he had formerly done; so if she should be once torn away from him, shewould be the cause of his falling into despair, because such young men'sattempts are best mollified when they are diverted from them by settlingtheir affections at home. So Arehelaus complied with what Herod desired,but not without difficulty, and was both himself reconciled to the youngman, and reconciled his father to him also. However, he said he must, byall means, be sent to Rome to discourse with Caesar, because he had alreadywritten a full account to him of this whole matter.

6. Thus a period was put to Archelaus's stratagem, whereby he deliveredhis son-in-law out of the dangers he was in; but when these reconciliationswere over, they spent their time in feastings and agreeable entertainments.And when Archelaus was going away, Herod made him a present of seventytalents, with a golden throne set with precious stones, and some eunuchs,and a concubine who was called Pannychis. He also paid due honors to everyone of his friends according to their dignity. In like manner did all theking's kindred, by his command, make glorious presents to Archelaus; andso he was conducted on his way by Herod and his nobility as far as Antioch.

1. NOW a little afterward there came into Judea a man that was muchsuperior to Arehelaus's stratagems, who did not only overturn that reconciliationthat had been so wisely made with Alexander, but proved the occasion ofhis ruin. He was a Lacedemonian, and his name was Eurycles. He was so corrupta man, that out of the desire of getting money, he chose to live undera king, for Greece could not suffice his luxury. He presented Herod withsplendid gifts, as a bait which he laid in order to compass his ends, andquickly received them back again manifold; yet did he esteem bare giftsas nothing, unless he imbrued the kingdom in blood by his purchases. Accordingly,he imposed upon the king by flattering him, and by talking subtlely tohim, as also by the lying encomiums which he made upon him; for as he soonperceived Herod's blind side, so he said and did every thing that mightplease him, and thereby became one of his most intimate friends; for boththe king and all that were about him had a great regard for this Spartan,on account of his country.(41)

2. Now as soon as this fellow perceived the rotten parts of the family,and what quarrels the brothers had one with another, and in what dispositionthe father was towards each of them, he chose to take his lodging at thefirst in the house of Antipater, but deluded Alexander with a pretenseof friendship to him, and falsely claimed to be an old acquaintance ofArchelaus; for which reason he was presently admitted into Alexander'sfamiliarity as a faithful friend. He also soon recommended himself to hisbrother Aristobulus. And when he had thus made trial of these several persons,he imposed upon one of them by one method, and upon another by another.But he was principally hired by Antipater, and so betrayed Alexander, andthis by reproaching Antipater, because, while he was the eldest son heoverlooked the intrigues of those who stood in the way of his expectations;and by reproaching Alexander, because he who was born of a queen, and wasmarried to a king's daughter, permitted one that was born of a mean womanto lay claim to the succession, and this when he had Archelaus to supporthim in the most complete manner. Nor was his advice thought to be otherthan faithful by the young man, because of his pretended friendship withArchelaus; on which account it was that Alexander lamented to him Antipater'sbehavior with regard to himself, and this without concealing any thingfrom him; and how it was no wonder if Herod, after he had killed theirmother, should deprive them of her kingdom. Upon this Eurycles pretendedto commiserate his condition, and to grieve with him. He also, by a baitthat he laid for him, procured Aristobulus to say the same things. Thusdid he inveigle both the brothers to make complaints of their father, andthen went to Antipater, and carried these grand secrets to him. He alsoadded a fiction of his own, as if his brothers had laid a plot againsthim, and were almost ready to come upon him with their drawn swords. Forthis intelligence he received a great sum of money, and on that accounthe commended Antipater before his father, and at length undertook the workof bringing Alexander and Aristobulus to their graves, and accused thembefore their father. So he came to Herod, and told him that he would savehis life, as a requital for the favors he had received from him, and wouldpreserve his light [of life] by way of retribution for his kind entertainment;for that a sword had been long whetted, and Alexander's right hand hadbeen long stretched out against him; but that he had laid impediments inhis way, prevented his speed, and that by pretending to assist him in hisdesign: how Alexander said that Herod was not contented to reign in a kingdomthat belonged to others, and to make dilapidations in their mother's governmentafter he had killed her; but besides all this, that he introduced a spurioussuccessor, and proposed to give the kingdom of their ancestors to thatpestilent fellow Antipater: - that he would now appease the ghosts of Hyrcanusand Mariamne, by taking vengeance on him; for that it was not fit for himto take the succession to the government from such a father without bloodshed:that many things happen every day to provoke him so to do, insomuch thathe can say nothing at all, but it affords occasion for calumny againsthim; for that if any mention be made of nobility of birth, even in othercases, he is abused unjustly, while his father would say that nobody, tobe sure, is of noble birth but Alexander, and that his father was ingloriousfor want of such nobility. If they be at any time hunting, and he saysnothing, he gives offense; and if he commends any body, they take it inway of jest. That they always find their father unmercifully severe, andhave no natural affection for any of them but for Antipater; on which accounts,if this plot does not take, he is very willing to die; but that in casehe kill his father, he hath sufficient opportunities for saving himself.In the first place, he hath Archelaus his father-in-law to whom he caneasily fly; and in the next place, he hath Caesar, who had never knownHerod's character to this day; for that he shall not appear then beforehim with that dread he used to do when his father was there to terrifyhim; and that he will not then produce the accusations that concerned himselfalone, but would, in the first place, openly insist on the calamities oftheir nation, and how they are taxed to death, and in what ways of luxuryand wicked practices that wealth is spent which was gotten by bloodshed;what sort of persons they are that get our riches, and to whom those citiesbelong upon whom he bestows his favors; that he would have inquiry madewhat became of his grandfather [Hyrcanus], and his mother [Mariamne], andwould openly proclaim the gross wickedness that was in the kingdom; onwhich accounts he should not be deemed a parricide.

3. When Eurycles had made this portentous speech, he greatly commendedAntipater, as the only child that had an affection for his father, andon that account was an impediment to the other's plot against him. Hereuponthe king, who had hardly repressed his anger upon the former accusations,was exasperated to an incurable degree. At which time Antipater took anotheroccasion to send in other persons to his father to accuse his brethren,and to tell him that they had privately discoursed with Jucundus and Tyrannus,who had once been masters of the horse to the king, but for some offenseshad been put out of that honorable employment. Herod was in a very greatrage at these informations, and presently ordered those men to be tortured;yet did not they confess any thing of what the king had been informed;but a certain letter was produced, as written by Alexander to the governorof a castle, to desire him to receive him and Aristobulus into the castlewhen he had killed his father, and to give them weapons, and what otherassistance he could, upon that occasion. Alexander said that this letterwas a forgery of Diophantus. This Diophantus was the king's secretary,a bold man, and cunning in counterfeiting any one's hand; and after hehad counterfeited a great number, he was at last put to death for it. Heroddid also order the governor of the castle to be tortured, but got nothingout of him of what the accusations suggested.

4. However, although Herod found the proofs too weak, he gave orderto have his sons kept in custody; for till now they had been at liberty.He also called that pest of his family, and forger of all this vile accusation,Eurycles, his savior and benefactor, and gave him a reward of fifty talents.Upon which he prevented any accurate accounts that could come of what hehad done, by going immediately into Cappadocia, and there he got moneyof Archelaus, having the impudence to pretend that he had reconciled Herodto Alexander. He thence passed over into Greece, and used what he had thuswickedly gotten to the like wicked purposes. Accordingly, he was twiceaccused before Caesar, that he had filled Achaia with sedition, and hadplundered its cities; and so he was sent into banishment. And thus washe punished for what wicked actions he had been guilty of about Aristobulusand Alexander.

5. But it will now be worth while to put Euaratus of Cos in oppositionto this Spartan; for as he was one of Alexander's most intimate friends,and came to him in his travels at the same time that Eurycles came; sothe king put the question to him, whether those things of which Alexanderwas accused were true? He assured him upon oath that he had never heardany such things from the young men; yet did this testimony avail nothingfor the clearing those miserable creatures; for Herod was only disposedand most ready to hearken to what made against them, and every one wasmost agreeable to him that would believe they were guilty, and showed theirindignation at them.

1. MOREOVER, Salome exasperated Herod's cruelty against his sons; forAristobulus was desirous to bring her, who was his mother-in-law and hisaunt, into the like dangers with themselves; so he sent to her to takecare of her own safety, and told her that the king was preparing to puther to death, on account of the accusation that was laid against her, asif when she formerly endeavored to marry herself to Sylleus the Arabian,she had discovered the king's grand secrets to him, who was the king'senemy; and this it was that came as the last storm, and entirely sunk theyoung men when they were in great danger before. For Salome came runningto the king, and informed him of what admonition had been given her; whereuponhe could bear no longer, but commanded both the young men to be bound,and kept the one asunder from the other. He also sent Volumnius, the generalof his army, to Caesar immediately, as also his friend Olympus with him,who carried the informations in writing along with them. Now as soon asthey had sailed to Rome, and delivered the king's letters to Caesar, Caesarwas mightily troubled at the case of the young men; yet did not he thinkhe ought to take the power from the father of condemning his sons; so hewrote back to him, and appointed him to have the power over his sons; butsaid withal, that he would do well to make an examination into this matterof the plot against him in a public court, and to take for his assessorshis own kindred, and the governors of the province. And if those sons befound guilty, to put them to death; but if they appear to have thoughtof no more than flying away from him, that he should moderate their punishment.

2. With these directions Herod complied, and came to Berytus, whereCaesar had ordered the court to be assembled, and got the judicature together.The presidents sat first, as Caesar's letters had appointed, who were Saturninusand Pedanius, and their lieutenants that were with them, with whom wasthe procurator Volumnius also; next to them sat the king's kinsmen andfriends, with Salome also, and Pheroras; after whom sat the principal menof all Syria, excepting Archelaus; for Herod had a suspicion of him, becausehe was Alexander's father-in-law. Yet did not he produce his sons in opencourt; and this was done very cunningly, for he knew well enough that hadthey but appeared only, they would certainly have been pitied; and if withalthey had been suffered to speak, Alexander would easily have answered whatthey were accused of; but they were in custody at Platane, a village ofthe Sidontans.

3. So the king got up, and inveighed against his sons, as if they werepresent; and as for that part of the accusation that they had plotted againsthim, he urged it but faintly, because he was destitute of proofs; but heinsisted before the assessors on the reproaches, and jests, and injuriouscarriage, and ten thousand the like offenses against him, which were heavierthan death itself; and when nobody contradicted him, he moved them to pityhis case, as though he had been condemned himself, now he had gained abitter victory against his sons. So he asked every one's sentence, whichsentence was first of all given by Saturninus, and was this: That he condemnedthe young men, but not to death; for that it was not fit for him, who hadthree sons of his own now present, to give his vote for the destructionof the sons of another. The two lieutenants also gave the like vote; someothers there were also who followed their example; but Volumnius beganto vote on the more melancholy side, and all those that came after himcondemned the young men to die, some out of flattery, and some out of hatredto Herod; but none out of indignation at their crimes. And now all Syriaand Judea was in great expectation, and waited for the last act of thistragedy; yet did nobody, suppose that Herod would be so barbarous as tomurder his children: however, he carried them away to Tyre, and thencesailed to Cesarea, and deliberated with himself what sort of death theyoung men should suffer.

4. Now there was a certain old soldier of the king's, whose name wasTero, who had a son that was very familiar with and a friend to Alexander,and who himself particularly loved the young men. This soldier was in amanner distracted, out of the excess of the indignation he had at whatwas doing; and at first he cried out aloud, as he went about, that justicewas trampled under foot; that truth was perished, and nature confounded;and that the life of man was full of iniquity, and every thing else thatpassion could suggest to a man who spared not his own life; and at lasthe ventured to go to the king, and said, "Truly I think thou art amost miserable man, when thou hearkenest to most wicked wretches, againstthose that ought to be dearest to thee; since thou hast frequently resolvedthat Pheroras and Salome should be put to death, and yet believest themagainst thy sons; while these, by cutting off the succession of thine ownsons, leave all wholly to Antipater, and thereby choose to have thee sucha king as may be thoroughly in their own power. However, consider whetherthis death of Antipater's brethren will not make him hated by the soldiers;for there is nobody but commiserates the young men; and of the captains,a great many show their indignation at it openly." Upon his sayingthis, he named those that had such indignation; but the king ordered thosemen, with Tero himself and his son, to be seized upon immediately.

5. At which time there was a certain barber, whose name was Trypho.This man leaped out from among the people in a kind of madness, and accusedhimself, and said, "This Tero endeavored to persuade me also to cutthy throat with my razor, when I trimmed thee, and promised that Alexandershould give me large presents for so doing." When Herod heard this,he examined Tero, with his son and the barber, by the torture; but as theothers denied the accusation, and he said nothing further, Herod gave orderthat Tero should be racked more severely; but his son, out of pity to hisfather, promised to discover the whole to the king, if he would grant [thathis father should be no longer tortured]. When he had agreed to this, hesaid that his father, at the persuasion of Alexander, had an intentionto kill him. Now some said this was forged, in order to free his fatherfrom his torments; and some said it was true.

6. And now Herod accused the captains and Tero in an assembly of thepeople, and brought the people together in a body against them; and accordinglythere were they put to death, together with [Trypho] the barber; they werekilled by the pieces of wood and the stones that were thrown at them. Healso sent his sons to Sebaste, a city not far from Cesarea, and orderedthem to be there strangled; and as what he had ordered was executed immediately,so he commanded that their dead bodies should be brought to the fortressAlexandrium, to be buried with Alexander, their grandfather by the mother'sside. And this was the end of Alexander and Aristobulus.

1. BUT an intolerable hatred fell upon Antipater from the nation, thoughhe had now an indisputable title to the succession, because they all knewthat he was the person who contrived all the calumnies against his brethren.However, he began to be in a terrible fear, as he saw the posterity ofthose that had been slain growing up; for Alexander had two sons by Glaphyra,Tigranes and Alexander; and Aristobulus had Herod, and Agrippa, and Aristobulus,his sons, with Herodias and Mariamne, his daughters, and all by Bernice,Salome's daughter. As for Glaphyra, Herod, as soon as he had killed Alexander,sent her back, together with her portion, to Cappadocia. He married Bernice,Aristobulus's daughter, to Antipater's uncle by his mother, and it wasAntipater who, in order to reconcile her to him, when she had been at variancewith him, contrived this match; he also got into Pheroras's favor, andinto the favor of Caesar's friends, by presents, and other ways of obsequiousness,and sent no small sums of money to Rome; Saturninus also, and his friendsin Syria, were all well replenished with the presents he made them; yetthe more he gave, the more he was hated, as not making these presents outof generosity, but spending his money out of fear. Accordingly, it so fellout that the receivers bore him no more good-will than before, but thatthose to whom he gave nothing were his more bitter enemies. However, hebestowed his money every day more and more profusely, on observing that,contrary to his expectations, the king was taking care about the orphans,and discovering at the same time his repentance for killing their fathers,by his commiseration of those that sprang from them.

2. Accordingly, Herod got together his kindred and friends, and setbefore them the children, and, with his eyes full of tears, said thus tothem: "It was an unlucky fate that took away from me these children'sfathers, which children are recommended to me by that natural commiserationwhich their orphan condition requires; however, I will endeavor, thoughI have been a most unfortunate father, to appear a better grandfather,and to leave these children such curators after myself as are dearest tome. I therefore betroth thy daughter, Pheroras, to the elder of these brethren,the children of Alexander, that thou mayst be obliged to take care of them.I also betroth to thy son, Antipater, the daughter of Aristobulus; be thoutherefore a father to that orphan; and my son Herod [Philip] shall haveher sister, whose grandfather, by the mother's side, was high priest. Andlet every one that loves me be of my sentiments in these dispositions,which none that hath an affection for me will abrogate. And I pray Godthat he will join these children together in marriage, to the advantageof my kingdom, and of my posterity; and may he look down with eyes moreserene upon them than he looked upon their fathers."

3. While he spake these words he wept, and joined the children's fighthands together; after which he embraced them every one after an affectionatemanner, and dismissed the assembly. Upon this, Antipater was in great disorderimmediately, and lamented publicly at what was done; for he supposed thatthis dignity which was conferred on these orphans was for his own destruction,even in his father's lifetime, and that he should run another risk of losingthe government, if Alexander's sons should have both Archelaus [a king],and Pheroras a tetrarch, to support them. He also considered how he washimself hated by the nation, and how they pitied these orphans; how greataffection the Jews bare to those brethren of his when they were alive,and how gladly they remembered them now they had perished by his means.So he resolved by all the ways possible to get these espousals dissolved.

4. Now he was afraid of going subtlely about this matter with his father,who was hard to be pleased, and was presently moved upon the least suspicion:so he ventured to go to him directly, and to beg of him before his facenot to deprive him of that dignity which he had been pleased to bestowupon him; and that he might not have the bare name of a king, while thepower was in other persons; for that he should never be able to keep thegovernment, if Alexander's son was to have both his grandfather Archelausand Pheroras for his curators; and he besought him earnestly, since therewere so many of the royal family alive, that he would change those [intended]marriages. Now the king had nine wives,(42)and children by seven of them; Antipater was himself born of Doris, andHerod Philip of Mariamne, the high priest's daughter; Antipas also andArchelaus were by Malthace, the Samaritan, as was his daughter Olympias,which his brother Joseph's(43)son had married. By Cleopatra of Jerusalem he had Herod and Philip; andby Pallas, Phasaelus; he had also two daughters, Roxana and Salome, theone by Phedra, and the other by Elpis; he had also two wives that had nochildren, the one his first cousin, and the other his niece; and besidesthese he had two daughters, the sisters of Alexander and Aristobulus, byMariamne. Since, therefore, the royal family was so numerous, Antipaterprayed him to change these intended marriages.

5. When the king perceived what disposition he was in towards theseorphans, he was angry at it, and a suspicion came into his mind as to thosesons whom he had put to death, whether that had not been brought aboutby the false tales of Antipater; so that at that time he made Antipatera long and a peevish answer, and bid him begone. Yet was he afterwardsprevailed upon cunningly by his flatteries, and changed the marriages;he married Aristobulus's daughter to him, and his son to Pheroras's daughter.

6. Now one may learn, in this instance, how very much this flatteringAntipater could do, - even what Salome in the like circumstances couldnot do; for when she, who was his sister, and who, by the means of Julia,Caesar's wife, earnestly desired leave to be married to Sylleus the Arabian,Herod swore he would esteem her his bitter enemy, unless she would leaveoff that project: he also caused her, against her own consent, to be marriedto Alexas, a friend of his, and that one of her daughters should be marriedto Alexas's son, and the other to Antipater's uncle by the mother's side.And for the daughters the king had by Mariamne, the one was married toAntipater, his sister's son, and the other to his brother's son, Phasaelus.

1. NOW when Antipater had cut off the hopes of the orphans, and hadcontracted such affinities as would be most for his own advantage, he proceededbriskly, as having a certain expectation of the kingdom; and as he hadnow assurance added to his wickedness, he became intolerable; for not beingable to avoid the hatred of all people, he built his security upon theterror he struck into them. Pheroras also assisted him in his designs,looking upon him as already fixed in the kingdom. There was also a companyof women in the court, which excited new disturbances; for Pheroras's wife,together with her mother and sister, as also Antipater's mother, grew veryimpudent in the palace. She also was so insolent as to affront the king'stwo daughters,(44)on which account the king hated her to a great degree; yet although thesewomen were hated by him, they domineered over others: there was only Salomewho opposed their good agreement, and informed the king of their meetings,as not being for the advantage of his affairs. And when those women knewwhat calumnies she had raised against them, and how much Herod was displeased,they left off their public meetings, and friendly entertainments of oneanother; nay, on the contrary, they pretended to quarrel one with anotherwhen the king was within hearing. The like dissimulation did Antipatermake use of; and when matters were public, he opposed Pheroras; but stillthey had private cabals and merry meetings in the night time; nor did theobservation of others do any more than confirm their mutual agreement.However, Salome knew every thing they did, and told every thing to Herod.

2. But he was inflamed with anger at them, and chiefly at Pheroras'swife; for Salome had principally accused her. So he got an assembly ofhis friends and kindred together, and there accused this woman of manythings, and particularly of the affronts she had offered his daughters;and that she had supplied the Pharisees with money, by way of rewards forwhat they had done against him, and had procured his brother to becomehis enemy, by giving him love potions. At length he turned his speech toPheroras, and told him that he would give him his choice of these two things:Whether he would keep in with his brother, or with his wife? And when Pherorassaid that he would die rather than forsake his wife? Herod, not knowingwhat to do further in that matter, turned his speech to Antipater, andcharged him to have no intercourse either with Pheroras's wife, or withPheroras himself, or with any one belonging to her. Now though Antipaterdid not transgress that his injunction publicly, yet did he in secret cometo their night meetings; and because he was afraid that Salome observedwhat he did, he procured, by the means of his Italian friends, that hemight go and live at Rome; for when they wrote that it was proper for Antipaterto be sent to Caesar for some time, Herod made no delay, but sent him,and that with a splendid attendance, and a great deal of money, and gavehim his testament to carry with him, - wherein Antipater had the kingdombequeathed to him, and wherein Herod was named for Antipater's successor;that Herod, I mean, who was the son of Mariarmne, the high priest's daughter.

3. Sylleus also, the Arabian, sailed to Rome, without any regard toCaesar's injunctions, and this in order to oppose Antipater with all hismight, as to that law-suit which Nicolaus had with him before. This Sylleushad also a great contest with Aretas his own king; for he had slain manyothers of Aretas's friends, and particularly Sohemus, the most potent manin the city Petra. Moreover, he had prevailed with Phabatus, who was Herod'ssteward, by giving him a great sum of money, to assist him against Herod;but when Herod gave him more, he induced him to leave Syllcus, and by thismeans he demanded of him all that Caesar had required of him to pay. Butwhen Sylleus paid nothing of what he was to pay, and did also accuse Phabatusto Caesar, and said that he was not a steward for Caesar's advantage, butfor Herod's, Phabatus was angry at him on that account, but was still invery great esteem with Herod, and discovered Sylleus's grand secrets, andtold the king that Sylleus had corrupted Corinthus, one of the guards ofhis body, by bribing him, and of whom he must therefore have a care. Accordingly,the king complied; for this Corinthus, though he was brought up in Herod'skingdom, yet was he by birth an Arabian; so the king ordered him to betaken up immediately, and not only him, but two other Arabians, who werecaught with him; the one of them was Sylleus's friend, the other the headof a tribe. These last, being put to the torture, confessed that they hadprevailed with Corinthus, for a large sum of money, to kill Herod; andwhen they had been further examined before Saturninus, the president ofSyria, they were sent to Rome.

4. However, Herod did not leave off importuning Pheroras, but proceededto force him to put away his wife;(45)yet could he not devise any way by which he could bring the woman herselfto punishment, although he had many causes of hatred to her; till at lengthhe was in such great uneasiness at her, that he cast both her and his brotherout of his kingdom. Pheroras took this injury very patiently, and wentaway into his own tetrarchy, [Perea beyond Jordan,] and sware that thereshould be but one end put to his flight, and that should be Herod's death;and that he would never return while he was alive. Nor indeed would hereturn when his brother was sick, although he earnestly sent for him tocome to him, because he had a mind to leave some injunctions with him beforehe died; but Herod unexpectedly recovered. A little afterward Pherorashimself fell sick, when Herod showed great moderation; for he came to him,and pitied his case, and took care of him; but his affection for him didhim no good, for Pheroras died a little afterward. Now though Herod hadso great an affection for him to the last day of his life, yet was a reportspread abroad that he had killed him by poison. However, he took care tohave his dead body carried to Jerusalem, and appointed a very great mourningto the whole nation for him, and bestowed a most pompous funeral upon him.And this was the end that one of Alexander's and Aristobulus's murdererscame to.

1. BUT now the punishment was transferred unto the original author,Antipater, and took its rise from the death of Pheroras; for certain ofhis freed-men came with a sad countenance to the king, and told him thathis brother had been destroyed by poison, and that his wife had broughthim somewhat that was prepared after an unusual manner, and that, uponhis eating it, he presently fell into his distemper; that Antipater's motherand sister, two days before, brought a woman out of Arabia that was skillfulin mixing such drugs, that she might prepare a love potion for Pheroras;and that instead of a love potion, she had given him deadly poison; andthat this was done by the management of Sylleus, who was acquainted withthat woman.

2. The king was deeply affected with so many suspicions, and had themaid-servants and some of the free women also tortured; one of which criedout in her agonies, "May that God that governs the earth and the heavenpunish this author of all these our miseries, Antipater's mother!"The king took a handle from this confession, and proceeded to inquire furtherinto the truth of the matter. So this woman discovered the friendship ofAntipater's mother to Pheroras, and Antipater's women, as also their secretmeetings, and that Pheroras and Antipater had drunk with them for a wholenight together as they returned from the king, and would not suffer anybody, either man-servant or maidservant, to be there; while one of thefree women discovered the matter.

3. Upon this Herod tortured the maid-servants every on by themselvesseparately, who all unanimously agreed in the foregoing discoveries, andthat accordingly by agreement they went away, Antipater to Rome, and Pherorasto Perea; for that they oftentimes talked to one another thus: That afterHerod had slain Alexander and Aristobulus, he would fall upon them, andupon their wives, because, after he Mariamne and her children he wouldspare nobody; and that for this reason it was best to get as far off thewild beast as they were able: - and that Antipater oftentimes lamentedhis own case before his mother, and said to her, that he had already grayhairs upon his head, and that his father grew younger again every day,and that perhaps death would overtake him before he should begin to bea king in earnest; and that in case Herod should die, which yet nobodyknew when it would be, the enjoyment of the succession could certainlybe but for a little time; for that these heads of Hydra, the sons of Alexanderand Aristobulus, were growing up: that he was deprived by his father ofthe hopes of being succeeded by his children, for that his successor afterhis death was not to be any one of his own sons, but Herod the son of Mariamne:that in this point Herod was plainly distracted, to think that his testamentshould therein take place; for he would take care that not one of his posterityshould remain, because he was of all fathers the greatest hater of hischildren. Yet does he hate his brother still worse; whence it was thathe a while ago gave himself a hundred talents, that he should not haveany intercourse with Pheroras. And when Pheroras said, Wherein have wedone him any harm? Antipater replied, "I wish he would but depriveus of all we have, and leave us naked and alive only; but it is indeedimpossible to escape this wild beast, who is thus given to murder, whowill not permit us to love any person openly, although we be together privately;yet may we be so openly too, if we have but the courage and the hands ofmen."

4. These things were said by the women upon the torture; as also thatPheroras resolved to fly with them to Perea. Now Herod gave credit to allthey said, on account of the affair of the hundred talents; for he hadno discourse with any body about them, but only with Antipater. So he ventedhis anger first of all against Antipater's mother, and took away from herall the ornaments which he had given her, which cost a great many talents,and cast her out of the palace a second time. He also took care of Pheroras'swomen after their tortures, as being now reconciled to them; but he wasin great consternation himself, and inflamed upon every suspicion, andhad many innocent persons led to the torture, out of his fear lest he shouldleave any guilty person untortured.

5. And now it was that he betook himself to examine Antipater of Samaria,who was the steward of [his son] Antipater; and upon torturing him, helearned that Antipater had sent for a potion of deadly poison for him outof Egypt, by Antiphilus, a companion of his; that Theudio, the uncle ofAntipater, had it from him, and delivered it to Pheroras; for that Antipaterhad charged him to take his father off while he was at Rome, and so freehim from the suspicion of doing it himself: that Pheroras also committedthis potion to his wife. Then did the king send for her, and bid her bringto him what she had received immediately. So she came out of her houseas if she would bring it with her, but threw herself down from the topof the house, in order to prevent any examination and torture from theking. However, it came to pass, as it seems by the providence of God, whenhe intended to bring Antipater to punishment, that she fell not upon herhead, but upon other parts of her body, and escaped. The king, when shewas brought to him, took care of her, (for she was at first quite senselessupon her fall,) and asked her why she had thrown herself down; and gaveher his oath, that if she would speak the real truth, he would excuse herfrom punishment; but that if she concealed any thing, he would have herbody torn to pieces by torments, and leave no part. of it to be buried.

6. Upon this the woman paused a little, and then said, "Why doI spare to speak of these grand secrets, now Pheroras is dead? that wouldonly tend to save Antipater, who is all our destruction. Hear then, O king,and be thou, and God himself, who cannot be deceived, witnesses to thetruth of what I am going to say. When thou didst sit weeping by Pherorasas he was dying, then it was that he called me to him, and said, My dearwife, I have been greatly mistaken as to the disposition of my brothertowards me, and have hated him that is so affectionate to me, and havecontrived to kill him who is in such disorder for me before I am dead.As for myself, I receive the recompence of my impiety; but do thou bringwhat poison was left with us by Antipater, and which thou keepest in orderto destroy him, and consume it immediately in the fire in my sight, thatI may not be liable to the avenger in the invisible world." This Ibrought as he bid me, and emptied the greatest part of it into the fire,but reserved a little of it for my own use against uncertain futurity,and out of my fear of thee."

7. When she had said this, she brought the box, which had a small quantityof this potion in it: but the king let her alone, and transferred the torturesto Antiphilus's mother and brother; who both confessed that Antiphilusbrought the box out of Egypt, and that they had received the potion froma brother of his, who was a physician at Alexandria. Then did the ghostsof Alexander and Aristobulus go round all the palace, and became the inquisitorsand discoverers of what could not otherwise have been found out and broughtsuch as were the freest from suspicion to be examined; whereby it was discoveredthat Mariamne, the high priest's daughter, was conscious of this plot;and her very brothers, when they were tortured, declared it so to be. Whereuponthe king avenged this insolent attempt of the mother upon her son, andblotted Herod, whom he had by her, out of his treament, who had been beforenamed therein as successor to Antipater.

1. AFTER these things were over, Bathyllus came under examination, inorder to convict Antipater, who proved the concluding attestation to Antipater'sdesigns; for indeed he was no other than his freed-man. This man came,and brought another deadly potion, the poison of asps, and the juices ofother serpents, that if the first potion did not do the business, Pherorasand his wife might be armed with this also to destroy the king. He broughtalso an addition to Antipater's insolent attempt against his father, whichwas the letters which he wrote against his brethren, Archelaus and Philip,which were the king's sons, and educated at Rome, being yet youths, butof generous dispositions. Antipater set himself to get rid of these assoon as he could, that they might not be prejudicial to his hopes; andto that end he forged letters against them in the name of his friends atRome. Some of these he corrupted by bribes to write how they grossly reproachedtheir father, and did openly bewail Alexander and Aristobulus, and wereuneasy at their being recalled; for their father had already sent for them,which was the very thing that troubled Antipater.

2. Nay, indeed, while Antipater was in Judea, and before he was uponhis journey to Rome, he gave money to have the like letters against themsent from Rome, and then came to his father, who as yet had no suspicionof him, and apologized for his brethren, and alleged on their behalf thatsome of the things contained in those letters were false, and others ofthem were only youthful errors. Yet at the same time that he expended agreat deal of his money, by making presents to such as wrote against hisbrethren, did he aim to bring his accounts into confusion, by buying costlygarments, and carpets of various contextures, with silver and gold cups,and a great many more curious things, that so, among the view great expenseslaid out upon such furniture, he might conceal the money he had used inhiring men [to write the letters]; for he brought in an account of hisexpenses, amounting to two hundred talents, his main pretense for whichwas file law-suit he had been in with Sylleus. So while all his rogueries,even those of a lesser sort also, were covered by his greater villainy,while all the examinations by torture proclaimed his attempt to murderhis father, and the letters proclaimed his second attempt to murder hisbrethren; yet did no one of those that came to Rome inform him of his misfortunesin Judea, although seven months had intervened between his conviction andhis return, so great was the hatred which they all bore to him. And perhapsthey were the ghosts of those brethren of his that had been murdered thatstopped the mouths of those that intended to have told him. He then wrotefrom Rome, and informed his [friends] that he would soon come to them,and how he was dismissed with honor by Caesar.

3. Now the king, being desirous to get this plotter against him intohis hands, and being also afraid lest he should some way come to the knowledgehow his affairs stood, and be upon his guard, he dissembled his anger inhis epistle to him, as in other points he wrote kindly to him, and desiredhim to make haste, because if he came quickly, he would then lay asidethe complaints he had against his mother; for Antipater was not ignorantthat his mother had been expelled out of the palace. However, he had beforereceived a letter, which contained an account of the death of Pheroras,at Tarentum,(46)and made great lamentations at it; for which some commended him, as beingfor his own uncle; though probably this confusion arose on account of hishaving thereby failed in his plot [on his father's life]; and his tearswere more for the loss of him that was to have been subservient therein,than for [an uncle] Pheroras: moreover, a sort of fear came upon him asto his designs, lest the poison should have been discovered. However, whenhe was in Cilicia, he received the forementioned epistle from his father,and made great haste accordingly. But when he had sailed to Celenderis,a suspicion came into his mind relating to his mother's misfortunes; asif his soul foreboded some mischief to itself. Those therefore of his friendswhich were the most considerate advised him not rashly to go to his father,till he had learned what were the occasions why his mother had been ejected,because they were afraid that he might be involved in the calumnies thathad been cast upon his mother: but those that were less considerate, andhad more regard to their own desires of seeing their native country, thanto Antipater's safety, persuaded him to make haste home, and not, by delayinghis journey, afford his father ground for an ill suspicion, and give ahandle to those that raised stories against him; for that in case any thinghad been moved to his disadvantage, it was owing to his absence, whichdurst not have been done had he been present. And they said it was absurdto deprive himself of certain happiness, for the sake of an uncertain suspicion,and not rather to return to his father, and take the royal authority uponhim, which was in a state of fluctuation on his account only. Antipatercomplied with this last advice, for Providence hurried him on [to his destruction].So he passed over the sea, and landed at Sebastus, the haven of Cesarea.

4. And here he found a perfect and unexpected solitude, while ever bodyavoided him, and nobody durst come at him; for he was equally hated byall men; and now that hatred had liberty to show itself, and the dreadmen were in at the king's anger made men keep from him; for the whole city[of Jerusalem] was filled with the rumors about Antipater, and Antipaterhimself was the only person who was ignorant of them; for as no man wasdismissed more magnificently when he began his voyage to Rome so was noman now received back with greater ignominy. And indeed he began alreadyto suspect what misfortunes there were in Herod's family; yet did he cunninglyconceal his suspicion; and while he was inwardly ready to die for fear,he put on a forced boldness of countenance. Nor could he now fly any whither,nor had he any way of emerging out of the difficulties which encompassedhim; nor indeed had he even there any certain intelligence of the affairsof the royal family, by reason of the threats the king had given out: yethad he some small hopes of better tidings; for perhaps nothing had beendiscovered; or if any discovery had been made, perhaps he should be ableto clear himself by impudence and artful tricks, which were the only thingshe relied upon for his deliverance.

5. And with these hopes did he screen himself, till he came to the palace,without any friends with him; for these were affronted, and shut out atthe first gate. Now Varus, the president of Syria, happened to be in thepalace [at this juncture]; so Antipater went in to his father, and, puttingon a bold face, he came near to salute him. But Herod Stretched out hishands, and turned his head away from him, and cried out, "Even thisis an indication of a parricide, to be desirous to get me into his arms,when he is under such heinous accusations. God confound thee, thou vilewretch; do not thou touch me, till thou hast cleared thyself of these crimesthat are charged upon thee. I appoint thee a court where thou art to bejudged, and this Varus, who is very seasonably here, to be thy judge; andget thou thy defense ready against tomorrow, for I give thee so much timeto prepare suitable excuses for thyself." And as Antipater was soconfounded, that he was able to make no answer to this charge, he wentaway; but his mother and wife came to him, and told him of all the evidencethey had gotten against him. Hereupon he recollected himself, and consideredwhat defense he should make against the accusations.

1. NOW the day following the king assembled a court of his kinsmen andfriends, and called in Antipater's friends also. Herod himself, with Varus,were the presidents; and Herod called for all the witnesses, and orderedthem to be brought in; among whom some of the domestic servants of Antipater'smother were brought in also, who had but a little while before been caught,as they were carrying the following letter from her to her son: "Sinceall those things have been already discovered to thy father, do not thoucome to him, unless thou canst procure some assistance from Caesar."When this and the other witnesses were introduced, Antipater came in, andfalling on his face before his father's feet, he said, "Father, Ibeseech thee, do not condemn me beforehand, but let thy ears be unbiassed,and attend to my defense; for if thou wilt give me leave, I will demonstratethat I am innocent."

2. Hereupon Herod cried out to him to hold his peace, and spake thusto Varus: "I cannot but think that thou, Varus, and every other uprightjudge, will determine that Antipater is a vile wretch. I am also afraidthat thou wilt abhor my ill fortune, and judge me also myself worthy ofall sorts of calamity for begetting such children; while yet I ought ratherto be pitied, who have been so affectionate a father to such wretched sons;for when I had settled the kingdom on my former sons, even when they wereyoung, and when, besides the charges of their education at Rome, I hadmade them the friends of Caesar, and made them envied by other kings, Ifound them plotting against me. These have been put to death, and that,in great measure, for the sake of Antipater; for as he was then young,and appointed to be my successor, I took care chiefly to secure him fromdanger: but this profligate wild beast, when he had been over and abovesatiated with that patience which I showed him, he made use of that abundanceI had given him against myself; for I seemed to him to live too long, andhe was very uneasy at the old age I was arrived at; nor could he stay anylonger, but would be a king by parricide. And justly I am served by himfor bringing him back out of the country to court, when he was of no esteembefore, and for thrusting out those sons of mine that were born of thequeen, and for making him a successor to my dominions. I confess to thee,O Varus, the great folly I was guilty for I provoked those sons of mineto act against me, and cut off their just expectations for the sake ofAntipater; and indeed what kindness did I do them; that could equal whatI have done to Antipater? to I have, in a manner, yielded up my royal whileI am alive, and whom I have openly named for the successor to my dominionsin my testament, and given him a yearly revenue of his own of fifty talents,and supplied him with money to an extravagant degree out of my own revenue;and' when he was about to sail to Rome, I gave him three talents, and recommendedhim, and him alone of all my children, to Caesar, as his father's deliverer.Now what crimes were those other sons of mine guilty of like these of Antipater?and what evidence was there brought against them so strong as there isto demonstrate this son to have plotted against me? Yet does this parricidepresume to speak for himself, and hopes to obscure the truth by his cunningtricks. Thou, O Varus, must guard thyself against him; for I know the wildbeast, and I foresee how plausibly he will talk, and his counterfeit lamentation.This was he who exhorted me to have a care of Alexander when he was alive,and not to intrust my body with all men! This was he who came to my verybed, and looked about lest any one should lay snares for me! This was hewho took care of my sleep, and secured me from fear of danger, who comfortedme under the trouble I was in upon the slaughter of my sons, and lookedto see what affection my surviving brethren bore me! This was my protector,and the guardian of my body! And when I call to mind, O Varus, his craftinessupon every occasion, and his art of dissembling, I can hardly believe thatI am still alive, and I wonder how I have escaped such a deep plotter ofmischief. However, since some fate or other makes my house desolate, andperpetually raises up those that are dearest to me against me, I will,with tears, lament my hard fortune, and privately groan under my lonesomecondition; yet am I resolved that no one who thirsts after my blood shallescape punishment, although the evidence should extend itself to all mysons."

3. Upon Herod's saying this, he was interrupted by the confusion hewas in; but ordered Nicolaus, one of his friends, to produce the evidenceagainst Antipater. But in the mean time Antipater lifted up his head, (forhe lay on the ground before his father's feet,) and cried out aloud, "Thou,O father, hast made my apology for me; for how can I be a parricide, whomthou thyself confessest to have always had for thy guardian? Thou callestmy filial affection prodigious lies and hypocrisy! how then could it bethat I, who was so subtle in other matters, should here be so mad as notto understand that it was not easy that he who committed so horrid a crimeshould be concealed from men, but impossible that he should be concealedfrom the Judge of heaven, who sees all things, and is present every where?or did not I know what end my brethren came to, on whom God inflicted sogreat a punishment for their evil designs against thee? And indeed whatwas there that could possibly provoke me against thee? Could the hope ofbeing king do it? I was a king already. Could I suspect hatred from thee?No. Was not I beloved by thee? And what other fear could I have? Nay, bypreserving thee safe, I was a terror to others. Did I want money? No; forwho was able to expend so much as myself? Indeed, father, had I been themost execrable of all mankind, and had I had the soul of the most cruelwild beast, must I not have been overcome with the benefits thou hadstbestowed upon me? whom, as thou thyself sayest, thou broughtest [into thepalace]; whom thou didst prefer before so many of thy sons; whom thou madesta king in thine own lifetime, and, by the vast magnitude of the other advantagesthou bestowedst on me, thou madest me an object of envy. O miserable man!that thou shouldst undergo this bitter absence, and thereby afford a greatopportunity for envy to arise against thee, and a long space for such aswere laying designs against thee! Yet was I absent, father, on thy affairs,that Sylleus might not treat thee with contempt in thine old age. Romeis a witness to my filial affection, and so is Caesar, the ruler of thehabitable earth, who oftentimes called me Philopater.(47)Take here the letters he hath sent thee, they are more to be believed thanthe calumnies raised here; these letters are my only apology; these I useas the demonstration of that natural affection I have to thee. Rememberthat it was against my own choice that I sailed [to Rome], as knowing thelatent hatred that was in the kingdom against me. It was thou, O father,however unwillingly, who hast been my ruin, by forcing me to allow timefor calumnies against me, and envy at me. However, I am come hither, andam ready to hear the evidence there is against me. If I be a parricide,I have passed by land and by sea, without suffering any misfortune on eitherof them: but this method of trial is no advantage to me; for it seems,O father, that I am already condemned, both before God and before thee;and as I am already condemned, I beg that thou wilt not believe the othersthat have been tortured, but let fire be brought to torment me; let theracks march through my bowels; have no regard to any lamentations thatthis polluted body can make; for if I be a parricide, I ought not to diewithout torture." Thus did Antipater cry out with lamentation andweeping, and moved all the rest, and Varus in particular, to commiseratehis case. Herod was the only person whose passion was too strong to permithim to weep, as knowing that the testimonies against him were true.

4. And now it was that, at the king's command, Nicolaus, when he hadpremised a great deal about the craftiness of Antipater, and had preventedthe effects of their commiseration to him, afterwards brought in a bitterand large accusation against him, ascribing all the wickedness that hadbeen in the kingdom to him, and especially the murder of his brethren;and demonstrated that they had perished by the calumnies he had raisedagainst them. He also said that he had laid designs against them that werestill alive, as if they were laying plots for the succession; and (saidhe) how can it be supposed that he who prepared poison for his father shouldabstain from mischief as to his brethren? He then proceeded to convicthim of the attempt to poison Herod, and gave an account in order of theseveral discoveries that had been made; and had great indignation as tothe affair of Pheroras, because Antipater had been for making him murderhis brother, and had corrupted those that were dearest to the king, andfilled the whole palace with wickedness; and when he had insisted on manyother accusations, and the proofs for them, he left off.

5. Then Varus bid Antipater make his defense; but he lay along in silence,and said no more but this, "God is my witness that I am entirely innocent."So Varus asked for the potion, and gave it to be drunk by a condemned malefactor,who was then in prison, who died upon the spot. So Varus, when he had hada very private discourse with Herod, and had written an account of thisassembly to Caesar, went away, after a day's stay. The king also boundAntipater, and sent away to inform Caesar of his misfortunes.

6. Now after this it was discovered that Antipater had laid a plot againstSalome also; for one of Antiphilus's domestic servants came, and broughtletters from Rome, from a maid-servant of Julia, [Caesar's wife,] whosename was Acme. By her a message was sent to the king, that she had founda letter written by Salome, among Julia's papers, and had sent it to himprivately, out of her good-will to him. This letter of Salome containedthe most bitter reproaches of the king, and the highest accusations againsthim. Antipater had forged this letter, and had corrupted Acme, and persuadedher to send it to Herod. This was proved by her letter to Antipater, forthus did this woman write to him: "As thou desirest, I have writtena letter to thy father, and have sent that letter, and am persuaded thatthe king will not spare his sister when he reads it. Thou wilt do wellto remember what thou hast promised when all is accomplished."

7. When this epistle was discovered, and what the epistle forged againstSalome contained, a suspicion came into the king's mind, that perhaps theletters against Alexander were also forged: he was moreover greatly disturbed,and in a passion, because he had almost slain his sister on Antipater'saccount. He did no longer delay therefore to bring him to punishment forall his crimes; yet when he was eagerly pursuing Antipater, he was restrainedby a severe distemper he fell into. However, he sent all account to Caesarabout Acme, and the contrivances against Salome; he sent also for his testament,and altered it, and therein made Antipas king, as taking no care of Archclausand Philip, because Antipater had blasted their reputations with him; buthe bequeathed to Caesar, besides other presents that he gave him, a thousandtalents; as also to his wife, and children, and friends, and freed-menabout five hundred: he also bequeathed to all others a great quantity ofland, and of money, and showed his respects to Salome his sister, by givingher most splendid gifts. And this was what was contained in his testament,as it was now altered.

1. NOW Herod's distemper became more and more severe to him, and thisbecause these his disorders fell upon him in his old age, and when he wasin a melancholy condition; for he was already seventy years of age, andhad been brought by the calamities that happened to him about his children,whereby he had no pleasure in life, even when he was in health; the griefalso that Antipater was still alive aggravated his disease, whom he resolvedto put to death now not at random, but as soon as he should be well again,and resolved to have him slain [in a public manner].

2. There also now happened to him, among his other calamities, a certainpopular sedition. There were two men of learning in the city [Jerusalem,]who were thought the most skillful in the laws of their country, and wereon that account had in very great esteem all over the nation; they were,the one Judas, the son of Sepphoris, and the other Mattbias, the son ofMargalus. There was a great concourse of the young men to these men whenthey expounded the laws, and there got together every day a kind of anarmy of such as were growing up to be men. Now when these men were informedthat the king was wearing away with melancholy, and with a distemper, theydropped words to their acquaintance, how it was now a very proper timeto defend the cause of God, and to pull down what had been erected contraryto the laws of their country; for it was unlawful there should be any suchthing in the temple as images, or faces, or the like representation ofany animal whatsoever. Now the king had put up a golden eagle over thegreat gate of the temple, which these learned men exhorted them to cutdown; and told them, that if there should any danger arise, it was a gloriousthing to die for the laws of their country; because that the soul was immortal,and that an eternal enjoyment of happiness did await such as died on thataccount; while the mean-spirited, and those that were not wise enough toshow a right love of their souls, preferred a death by a disease, beforethat which is the result of a virtuous behavior.

3. At the same time that these men made this speech to their disciples,a rumor was spread abroad that the king was dying, which made the youngmen set about the work with greater boldness; they therefore let themselvesdown from the top of the temple with thick cords, and this at midday, andwhile a great number of people were in the temple, and cut down that goldeneagle with axes. This was presently told to the king's captain of the temple,who came running with a great body of soldiers, and caught about fortyof the young men, and brought them to the king. And when he asked them,first of all, whether they had been so hardy as to cut down the goldeneagle, they confessed they had done so; and when he asked them by whosecommand they had done it, they replied, at the command of the law of theircountry; and when he further asked them how they could be so joyful whenthey were to be put to death, they replied, because they should enjoy greaterhappiness after they were dead.(48)

4. At this the king was in such an extravagant passion, that he overcamehis disease [for the time,] and went out, and spake to the people; whereinhe made a terrible accusation against those men, as being guilty of sacrilege,and as making greater attempts under pretense of their law, and he thoughtthey deserved to be punished as impious persons. Whereupon the people wereafraid lest a great number should be found guilty and desired that whenhe had first punished those that put them upon this work, and then thosethat were caught in it, he would leave off his anger as to the rest. Withthis the king complied, though not without difficulty, and ordered thosethat had let themselves down, together with their Rabbins, to be burntalive, but delivered the rest that were caught to the proper officers,to be put to death by them.

5. After this, the distemper seized upon his whole body, and greatlydisordered all its parts with various symptoms; for there was a gentlefever upon him, and an intolerable itching over all the surface of hisbody, and continual pains in his colon, and dropsical turnouts about hisfeet, and an inflammation of the abdomen, and a putrefaction of his privymember, that produced worms. Besides which he had a difficulty of breathingupon him, and could not breathe but when he sat upright, and had a convulsionof all his members, insomuch that the diviners said those diseases werea punishment upon him for what he had done to the Rabbins. Yet did he strugglewith his numerous disorders, and still had a desire to live, and hopedfor recovery, and considered of several methods of cure. Accordingly, hewent over Jordan, and made use of those hot baths at Callirrhoe, whichran into the lake Asphaltitis, but are themselves sweet enough to be drunk.And here the physicians thought proper to bathe his whole body in warmoil, by letting it down into a large vessel full of oil; whereupon hiseyes failed him, and he came and went as if he was dying; and as a tumultwas then made by his servants, at their voice he revived again. Yet didhe after this despair of recovery, and gave orders that each soldier shouldhave fifty drachmae a-piece, and that his commanders and friends shouldhave great sums of money given them.

6. He then returned back and came to Jericho, in such a melancholy stateof body as almost threatened him with present death, when he proceededto attempt a horrid wickedness; for he got together the most illustriousmen of the whole Jewish nation, out of every village, into a place calledthe Hippodrome, and there shut them in. He then called for his sister Salome,and her husband Alexas, and made this speech to them: "I know wellenough that the Jews will keep a festival upon my death however, it isin my power to be mourned for on other accounts, and to have a splendidfuneral, if you will but be subservient to my commands. Do you but takecare to send soldiers to encompass these men that are now in custody, andslay them immediately upon my death, and then all Judea, and every familyof them, will weep at it, whether they will or no."

7. These were the commands he gave them; when there came letters fromhis ambassadors at Rome, whereby information was given that Acme was putto death at Caesar's command, and that Antipater was condemned to die;however, they wrote withal, that if Herod had a mind rather to banish him,Caesar permitted him so to do. So he for a little while revived, and hada desire to live; but presently after he was overborne by his pains, andwas disordered by want of food, and by a convulsive cough, and endeavoredto prevent a natural, death; so he took an apple, and asked for a knifefor he used to pare apples and eat them; he then looked round about tosee that there was nobody to hinder him, and lift up his right hand asif he would stab himself; but Achiabus, his first cousin, came runningto him, and held his hand, and hindered him from so doing; on which occasiona very great lamentation was made in the palace, as if the king were expiring.As soon as ever Antipater heard that, he took courage, and with joy inhis looks, besought his keepers, for a sum of money, to loose him and lethim go; but the principal keeper of the prison did not only obstruct himin that his intention, but ran and told the king what his design was; hereuponthe king cried out louder than his distemper would well bear, and immediatelysent some of his guards and slew Antipater; he also gave order to havehim buried at Hyrcanium, and altered his testament again, and therein madeArchclaus, his eldest son, and the brother of Antipas, his successor, andmade Antipas tetrarch.

8. So Herod, having survived the slaughter of his son five days, died,having reigned thirty-four years since he had caused Antigonus to be slain,and obtained his kingdom; but thirty-seven years since he had been madeking by the Romans. Now as for his fortune, it was prosperous in all otherrespects, if ever any other man could be so, since, from a private man,he obtained the kingdom, and kept it so long, and left it to his own sons;but still in his domestic affairs he was a most unfortunate man. Now, beforethe soldiers knew of his death, Salome and her husband came out and dismissedthose that were in bonds, whom the king had commanded to be slain, andtold them that he had altered his mind, and would have every one of themsent to their own homes. When these men were gone, Salome, told the soldiers[the king was dead], and got them and the rest of the multitude togetherto an assembly, in the amphitheater at Jericho, where Ptolemy, who wasintrusted by the king with his signet ring, came before them, and spakeof the happiness the king had attained, and comforted the multitude, andread the epistle which had been left for the soldiers, wherein he earnestlyexhorted them to bear good-will to his successor; and after he had readthe epistle, he opened and read his testament, wherein Philip was to inheritTrachonitis, and the neighboring countries, and Antipas was to be tetrarch,as we said before, and Archelaus was made king. He had also been commandedto carry Herod's ring to Caesar, and the settlements he had made, sealedup, because Caesar was to be lord of all the settlements he had made, andwas to confirm his testament; and he ordered that the dispositions he hadmade were to be kept as they were in his former testament.

9. So there was an acclamation made to Archelaus, to congratulate himupon his advancement; and the soldiers, with the multitude, went roundabout in troops, and promised him their good-will, and besides, prayedGod to bless his government. After this, they betook themselves to preparefor the king's funeral; and Archelaus omitted nothing of magnificence therein,but brought out all the royal ornaments to augment the pomp of the deceased.There was a bier all of gold, embroidered with precious stones, and a purplebed of various contexture, with the dead body upon it, covered with purple;and a diadem was put upon his head, and a crown of gold above it, and asecptre in his right hand; and near to the bier were Herod's sons, anda multitude of his kindred; next to which came his guards, and the regimentof Thracians, the Germans. also and Gauls, all accounted as if they weregoing to war; but the rest of the army went foremost, armed, and followingtheir captains and officers in a regular manner; after whom five hundredof his domestic servants and freed-men followed, with sweet spices in theirhands: and the body was carried two hundred furlongs, to Herodium, wherehe had given order to be buried. And this shall suffice for the conclusionof the life of Herod.

Preface

(1) I have already observed more than once, that this History of the Jewish War was Josephus's first work, and published about A.D. 75, when he was but thirty-eight years of age; and that when he wrote it, he was not thoroughly acquainted with several circumstances of history from the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, with which it begins, till near his own times, contained in the first and former part of the second book, and so committed many involuntary errors therein. That he published his Antiquities eighteen years afterward, in the thirteenth year of Domitian, A.D. 93, when he was much more completely acquainted with those ancient times, and after he had perused those most authentic histories, the First Book of Maccabees, and the Chronicles of the Priesthood of John Hyrcanus, etc. That accordingly he then reviewed those parts of this work, and gave the public a more faithful, complete, and accurate account of the facts therein related; and honestly corrected the errors he bad before run into.

(2) Who these Upper Barbarians, remote from the sea, were, Josephus himself will inform us, sect. 2, viz. the Parthians and Babylonians, and remotest Arabians [of the Jews among them]; besides the Jews beyond Euphrates, and the Adiabeni, or Assyrians. Whence we also learn that these Parthians, Babylonians, the remotest Arabians, [or at least the Jews among them,] as also the Jews beyond Euphrates, and the Adiabeni, or Assyrians, understood Josephus's Hebrew, or rather Chaldaic, books of The Jewish War, before they were put into the Greek language.

(3) That these calamities of the Jews, who were our Savior’s murderers, were to be the greatest that had ever been sence the beginning of the world, our Savior had directly foretold, Matthew 24:21; Mark 13:19; Luke 21:23, 24; and that they proved to be such accordingly, Josephus is here a most authentic witness.

(4) Titus.

(5) These seven, or rather five, degrees of purity, or purification, are enumerated hereafter, B. V. ch. 5. sect. 6. The Rabbins make ten degrees of them, as Reland there informs us.

Book I

(1) I see little difference in the several accounts in Josephus about the Egyptian temple Onion, of which large complaints are made by his commentators. Onias, it seems, hoped to have :made it very like that at Jerusalem, and of the same dimensions; and so he appears to have really done, as far as he was able and thought proper. Of this temple, see Antiq. B. XIII. ch. 3. sect. 1--3, and Of the War, B. VII. ch. 10. sect. 8.

(2) Whythis John, the son of Simon, the high priest and governor of the Jews,was called Hyrcanus, Josephus no where informs us; nor is he called otherthan John at the end of the First Book of the Maccabees. However, SixtusSeuensis, when he gives us an epitome of the Greek version of the bookhere abridged by Josephus, or of the Chronicles of this John Hyrcanus,then extant, assures us that he was called Hyrcanus from his conquest ofone of that name. See Authent. Rec. Part I. p. 207. But of this youngerAntiochus, see Dean Aldrich's note here.

(3) Josephushere calls this Antiochus the last of the Seleucidae, although there remainedstill a shadow of another king of that family, Antiochus Asiaticus, orCommagenus, who reigned, or rather lay hid, till Pompey quite turned himout, as Dean Aldrich here notes from Appian and Justin.

(4) Matthew16:19; 18:18. Here we have the oldest and most authentic Jewish expositionof binding and loosing, for punishing or absolving men, not for declaringactions lawful or unlawful, as some more modern Jews and Christians vainlypretend.

(5) Strabo,B. XVI. p. 740, relates, that this Selene Cleopatra was besieged by Tigranes,not in Ptolemais, as here, but after she had left Syria, in Seleucia, acitadel in Mesopotamia; and adds, that when he had kept her a while inprison, he put her to death. Dean Aldrich supposes here that Strabo contradictsJosephus, which does not appear to me; for although Josephus says bothhere and in the Antiquities, B. XIII. ch. 16. sect. 4, that Tigranes besiegedher now in Ptolemais, and that he took the city, as the Antiquities informus, yet does he no where intimate that he now took the queen herself; sothat both the narrations of Strabo and Josephus may still be true notwithstanding.

(6) Thatthis Antipater, the father of Herod the Great was an Idumean, as Josephusaffirms here, see the note on Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 15. sect. 2. It is somewhatprobable, as Hapercamp supposes, and partly Spanheim also, that the Latinis here the truest; that Pompey did him Hyrcanus, as he would have donethe others from Aristobulus, sect. 6, although his remarkable abstinencefrom the 2000 talents that were in the Jewish temple, when he took it alittle afterward, ch. 7. sect. 6, and Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 4. sect. 4, willto Greek all which agree he did not take them.

(7) Ofthe famous palm trees and balsam about Jericho and Engaddl, see the notesin Havercamp's edition, both here and B. II. ch. 9. sect. 1. They are somewhattoo long to be transcribed in this place.

(8) Thussays Tacitus: Cn. Pompelna first of all subdued the Jews, and went intotheir temple, by right of conquest, Hist. B. V. ch. 9. Nor did he touchany of its riches, as has been observed on the parallel place of the Antiquities,B. XIV. ch. 4. sect. 4, out of Cicero himself.

(9) Thecoin of this Gadara, still extant, with its date from this era, is a certainevidence of this its rebuilding by Pompey, as Spanheim here assures us.

(10)Take the like attestation to the truth of this submission of Aretas, kingof Arabia, to Scaurus the Roman general, in the words of Dean Aldrich."Hence (says he) is derived that old and famous Denarius belongingto the Emillian family [represented in Havercamp's edition], wherein Aretasappears in a posture of supplication, and taking hold of a camel's bridlewith his left hand, and with his right hand presenting a branch of thefrankincense tree, with this inscription, M. SCAURUS EX S.C.; and beneath,REX ARETAS."

(11)This citation is now wanting.

(12)What is here noted by Hudson and Spanheim, that this grant of leave torebuild the walls of the cities of Judea was made by Julius Caesar, notas here to Antipater, but to Hyrcanas, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect. 5, hashardly an appearance of a contradiction; Antipater being now perhaps consideredonly as Hyrcanus's deputy and minister; although he afterwards made a cipherof Hyrcanus, and, under great decency of behavior to him, took the realauthority to himself.

(13)Or twenty-five years of age. See note on Antiq. B. I. ch. 12. sect. 3;and on B. XIV. ch. 9. sect. 2; and Of the War, B. II. ch. 11. sect. 6;and Polyb. B. XVII. p. 725. Many writers of the Roman history give an accountof this murder of Sextus Caesar, and of the war of Apamia upon that occasion.They are cited in Dean Aldrich's note.

(14)In the Antiquities, B. XIV. ch. 11. sect. 1, the duration of the reignof Julius Caesar is three years six months; but here three years sevenmonths, beginning nightly, says Dean Aldrich, from his second dictatorship.It is probable the real duration might be three years and between six andseven months.

(15)It appears evidently by Josephus's accounts, both here and in his Antiquities,B. XIV. ch. 11. sect. 2, that this Cassius, one of Caesar's murderers,was a bitter oppressor, and exactor of tribute in Judea. These seven hundredtalents amount to about three hundred thousand pounds sterling, and areabout half the yearly revenues of king Herod afterwards. See the note onAntiq. B. XVII. ch. 11. sect. 4. It also appears that Galilee then paidno more than one hundred talents, or the seventh part of the entire sumto be levied in all the country.

(16)Here we see that Cassius set tyrants over all Syria; so that his assistingto destroy Caesar does not seem to have proceeded from his true zeal forpublic liberty, but from a desire to be a tyrant himself.

(17)Phasaelus and Herod.

(18)This large and noted wood, or woodland, belonging to Carmel, called apagoby the Septuagint, is mentioned in the Old Testament, 2 Kings 19:23; Isaiah37:24, and by I Strabo, B. XVI. p. 758, as both Aldrich and Spanheim hereremark very pertinently.

(19)These accounts, both here and Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 13. sect. 5, that theParthians fought chiefly on horseback, and that only some few of theirsoldiers were free-men, perfectly agree with Trogus Pompeius, in Justin,B. XLI. 2, 3, as Dean Aldrich well observes on this place.

(20)Mariamac here, in the copies.

(21)This Brentesium or Brundusium has coin still preserved, on which is written,as Spanheim informs us.

(22)This Dellius is famous, or rather infamous, in the history of Mark Antony,as Spanheim and Aldrich here note, from the coins, from Plutarch and Dio.

(23)This Sepphoris, the metropolis of Galilee, so often mentioned by Josephus,has coins still remaining, as Spanheim here informs us.

(24)This way of speaking, "after forty days," is interpreted by Josephushimself, "on the fortieth day," Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 15. sect.4. In like manner, when Josephus says, ch. 33. sect. 8, that Herod lived"after" he had ordered Antipater to be slain "five days;"this is by himself interpreted, Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 8. sect. 1, that hedied "on the fifth day afterward." So also what is in this book,ch. 13. sect. 1, "after two years," is, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 13.sect. 3, "on the second year." And Dean Aldrich here notes thatthis way of speaking is familiar to Josephus.

(25)This Samosata, the metropolis of Commagena, is well known from its coins,as Spanheim here assures us. Dean Aldrich also confirms what Josephus herenotes, that Herod was a great means of taking the city by Antony, and thatfrom Plutarch and Dio.

(26)That is, a woman, not, a man.

(27)This death of Antigonus is confirmed by Plutarch and. Straho; the latterof whom is cited for it by Josephus himself, Antiq. B. XV. ch. 1. sect.2, as Dean Aldrich here observes.

(28)This ancient liberty of Tyre and Sidon under the Romans, taken notice ofby Josephus, both here and Antiq. B. XV. ch. 4. sect. 1, is confirmed bythe testimony of Sirabe, B. XVI. p. 757, as Dean Aldrich remarks; although,as he justly adds, this liberty lasted but a little while longer, whenAugtus took it away from them.

(29)This seventh year of the reign of Herod [from the conquest or death ofAntigonus], with the great earthquake in the beginning of the same spring,which are here fully implied to be not much before the fight at Actium,between Octavius and Antony, and which is known from the Roman historiansto have been in the beginning of September, in the thirty-first year beforethe Christian era, determines the chronology of Josephus as to the reignof Herod, viz. that he began in the year 37, beyond rational contradiction.Nor is it quite unworthy of our notice, that this seventh year of the reignof Herod, or the thirty-first before the Christian era, contained the latterpart of a Sabbatic year, on which Sabbatic year, therefore, it is plainthis great earthquake happened in Judea.

(30)This speech of Herod is set down twice by Josephus, here and Antiq. B.XV. ch. 5. sect. 3, to the very same purpose, but by no means in the samewords; whence it appears that the sense was Herod's, but the compositionJosephus's.

(31)Since Josephus, both here and in his Antiq. B. XV. ch. 7. sect. 3, reckonsGaza, which had been a free city, among the cities given Herod by Augustus,and yet implies that Herod had made Costobarus a governor of it before,Antiq. B. XV. ch. 7. sect. 9, Hardain has some pretense for saying thatJosephus here contradicted himself. But perhaps Herod thought he had sufficientauthority to put a governor into Gaza, after he was made tetrarch or king,in times of war, before the city was entirely delivered into his handsby Augustus.

(32)This fort was first built, as it is supposed, by John Hyrcanus; see Prid.at the year 107; and called "Baris," the Tower or Citadel. Itwas afterwards rebuilt, with great improvements, by Herod, under the governmentof Antonius, and was named from him "the Tower of Antoni;" andabout the time when Herod rebuilt the temple, he seems to have put hislast hand to it. See Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 5. sect. 4; Of the War, B. I.ch. 3. sect. 3; ch. 5. sect. 4. It lay on the northwest side of the temple,and was a quarter as large.

(33)That Josephus speaks truth, when he assures us that the haven of this Cesareawas made by Herod not less, nay rather larger, than that famous haven atAthens, called the Pyrecum, will appear, says Dean Aldrich, to him whocompares the descriptions of that at Athens in Thucydides and Pausanias,with this of Cesarea in Josephus here, and in the Antiq. B. XV. ch. 9.sect. 6, and B. XVII. ch. 9. sect. 1.

(34)These buildings of cities by the name of Caesar, and institution of solemngames in honor of Augustus Caesar, as here, and in the Antiquities, relatedof Herod by Josephus, the Roman historians attest to, as things then frequentin the provinces of that empire, as Dean Aldrich observes on this chapter.

(35)There were two cities, or citadels, called Herodium, in Judea, and bothmentioned by Josephus, not only here, but Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 13. sect.9; B. XV. ch. 9. sect. 6; Of the War, B. I. ch. 13. sect. 8; B. III. ch.3. sect. 5. One of them was two hundred, and the other sixty furlongs distantfrom Jerusalem. One of them is mentioned by Pliny, Hist. Nat. B. V. ch.14., as Dean Aldrich observes here.

(36)Here seems to be a small defect in the copies, which describe the wildbeasts which were hunted in a certain country by Herod, without namingany such country at all.

(37)Here is either a defect or a great mistake in Josephus's present copiesor memory; for Mariamne did not now reproach Herod with this his firstinjunction to Joseph to kill her, if he himself were slain by Antony, butthat he had given the like command a second time to Soemus also, when hewas afraid of being slain by Augustus. Antiq. B. XV. ch. 3. sect. 5, etc.

(38)That this island Eleusa, afterward called Sebaste, near Cilicia, had init the royal palace of this Archclaus, king of Cappadocia, Strabo testifies,B. XV. p. 671. Stephanus of Byzantiam also calls it "an island ofCilicia, which is now Sebaste;" both whose testimonies are pertinentlycited here by Dr. Hudson. See the same history, Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 10.sect. 7.

(39)That it was an immemorial custom among the Jews, and their forefathers,the patriarchs, to have sometimes more wives or wives and concubines, thanone at the same the and that this polygamy was not directly forbidden inthe law of Moses is evident; but that polygamy was ever properly and distinctlypermitted in that law of Moses, in the places here cited by Dean Aldrich,Deuteronomy 17:16, 17, or 21:15, or indeed any where else, does not appearto me. And what our Savior says about the common Jewish divorces, whichmay lay much greater claim to such a permission than polygamy, seems tome true in this case also; that Moses, "for the hardness of theirhearts," suffered them to have several wives at the same time, butthat "from the beginning it was not so," Matthew 19:8; Mark 10:5.

(40)This vile fellow, Eurycles the Lacedemonian, seems to have been the samewho is mentioned by Plutarch, as (twenty-live years before) a companionto Mark Antony, and as living with Herod; whence he might easily insinuatehimself into the acquaintance of Herod's sons, Antipater and Alexander,as Usher, Hudson, and Spanheim justly suppose. The reason why his beinga Spartan rendered him acceptable to the Jews as we here see he was, isvisible from the public records of the Jews and Spartans, owning thoseSpartans to be of kin to the Jews, and derived from their common ancestorAbraham, the first patriarch of the Jewish nation, Antiq. B. XII. ch. 4.sect. 10; B. XIII. ch. 5. sect. 8; and 1 Macc. 12:7.

(41)See the preceding note.

(42)Dean Aldrich takes notice here, that these nine wives of Herod were aliveat the same time; and that if the celebrated Mariamne, who was now dead,be reckoned, those wives were in all ten. Yet it is remarkable that hehad no more than fifteen children by them all.

(43)To prevent confusion, it may not be amiss, with Dean Aldrich, to distinguishbetween four Josephs in the history of Herod. 1. Joseph, Herod's uncle,and the [second] husband of his sister Salome, slain by Herod, on accountof Mariamne. 2. Joseph, Herod's quaestor, or treasurer, slain on the sameaccount. 3. Joseph, Herod's brother, slain in battle against Antigonus.4. Joseph, Herod's nephew, the husband of Olympias, mentioned in this place.

(44)These daughters of Herod, whom Pheroras's wife affronted, were Salome andRoxana, two virgins, who were born to him of his two wives, Elpide andPhedra. See Herod's genealogy, Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 1. sect. 3.

(45)This strange obstinacy of Pheroras in retaining his wife, who was one ofa low family, and refusing to marry one nearly related to Herod, thoughhe so earnestly desired it, as also that wife's admission to the counselsof the other great court ladies, together with Herod’s own importunityas to Pheroras's divorce and other marriage, all so remarkable here, orin the Antiquities XVII. ch. 2. sect. 4; and ch. 3. be well accounted for,but on the supposal that Pheroras believed, and Herod suspected, that thePharisees' prediction, as if the crown of Judea should be translated fromHerod to Pheroras's posterity and that most probably to Pheroras's posterityby this his wife, also would prove true. See Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 2. sect.4; and ch. 3. sect. 1.

(46)This Tarentum has coins still extant, as Reland informs us here in hisnote.

(47)A lover of his father.

(48)Since in these two sections we have an evident account of the Jewish opinionsin the days of Josephus, about a future happy state, and the resurrectionof the dead, as in the New Testament, John 11:24, I shall here refer tothe other places in Josephus, before he became a catholic Christian, whichconcern the same matters. Of the War, B. II. ch. 8. sect. 10, 11; B. III.ch. 8. sect. 4; B. VII. ch. 6. sect. 7; Contr. Apion, B. II. sect. 30;where we may observe, that none of these passages are in his Books of Antiquities,written peculiarly for the use of the Gentiles, to whom he thought it notproper to insist on topics so much out of their way as these were. Noris this observation to be omitted here, especially on account of the sensibledifference we have now before us in Josephus's reason of the used by theRabbins to persuade their scholars to hazard their lives for the vindicationof God's law against images, by Moses, as well as of the answers thosescholars made to Herod, when they were caught, and ready to die for thesame; I mean as compared with the parallel arguments and answers representedin the Antiquities, B. XVII. ch. 6. sect, 2, 3. A like difference betweenJewish and Gentile notions the reader will find in my notes on Antiquities,B. III. ch. 7. sect. 7; B. XV. ch. 9. sect. 1. See the like also in thecase of the three Jewish sects in the Antiquities, B. XIII. ch. 5. sect.9, and ch. 10. sect. 4, 5; B. XVIII. ch. 1. sect. 5; and compared withthis in his Wars of the Jews, B. II. ch. 8. sect. 2-14. Nor does St. Paulhimself reason to Gentiles at Athens, Acts 17:16-34, as he does to Jewsin his Epistles.

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