Antiquities of the
Jews - Book XV
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF EIGHTEEN YEARS.
FROM THE DEATH OF ANTIGONUS TO THE FINISHING OF THE TEMPLE
BY HEROD.
CHAPTER 1.
CONCERNING POLLIO AND SAMEAS. HEROD SLAYS THE PRINCIPAL OF
ANTIGONUS'S FRIENDS, AND SPOILS THE CITY OF ITS WEALTH. ANTONY BEHEADS
ANTIGONUS.
1. HOW Sosius and Herod took Jerusalem by force; and besides that, how
they took Antigonus captive, has been related by us in the foregoing book.
We will now proceed in the narration. And since Herod had now the government
of all Judea put into his hands, he promoted such of the private men in
the city as had been of his party, but never left off avenging and punishing
every day those that had chosen to be of the party of his enemies. But
Pollio the Pharisee, and Sameas, a disciple of his, were honored by him
above all the rest; for when Jerusalem was besieged, they advised the citizens
to receive Herod, for which advice they were well requited. But this Pollio,
at the time when Herod was once upon his trial of life and death, foretold,
in way of reproach, to Hyrcanus and the other judges, how this Herod, whom
they suffered now to escape, would afterward inflict punishment on them
all; which had its completion in time, while God fulfilled the words he
had spoken.
2. At this time Herod, now he had got Jerusalem under his power, carried
off all the royal ornaments, and spoiled the wealthy men of what they had
gotten; and when, by these means, he had heaped together a great quantity
of silver and gold, he gave it all to Antony, and his friends that were
about him. He also slew forty-five of the principal men of Antigonus's
party, and set guards at the gates of the city, that nothing might be carried
out together with their dead bodies. They also searched the dead, and whatsoever
was found, either of silver or gold, or other treasure, it was carried
to the king; nor was there any end of the miseries he brought upon them;
and this distress was in part occasioned by the covetousness of the prince
regent, who was still in want of more, and in part by the Sabbatic year,
which was still going on, and forced the country to lie still uncultivated,
since we are forbidden to sow our land in that year. Now when Antony had
received Antigonus as his captive, he determined to keep him against his
triumph; but when he heard that the nation grew seditious, and that, out
of their hatred to Herod, they continued to bear good-will to Antigonus,
he resolved to behead him at Antioch, for otherwise the Jews could no way
be brought to be quiet. And Strabo of Cappadocia attests to what I have
said, when he thus speaks: "Antony ordered Antigonus the Jew to be
brought to Antioch, and there to be beheaded. And this Antony seems to
me to have been the very first man who beheaded a king, as supposing he
could no other way bend the minds of the Jews so as to receive Herod, whom
he had made king in his stead; for by no torments could they he forced
to call him king, so great a fondness they had for their former king; so
he thought that this dishonorable death would diminish the value they had
for Antigonus's memory, and at the same time would diminish the hatred
they bare to Herod." Thus far Strabo.
CHAPTER 2.
HOW HYRCANUS WAS SET AT LIBERTY BY THE PARTHIANS, AND RETURNED
TO HEROD; AND WHAT ALEXANDRA DID WHEN SHE HEARD THAT ANANELUS WAS MADE
HIGH PRIEST.
1. NOW after Herod was in possession of the kingdom, Hyrcanus the high
priest, who was then a captive among the Parthians, came to him again,
and was set free from his captivity, in the manner following: Barzapharnes
and Pacorus, the generals of the Parthians, took Hyreanus, who was first
made high priest and afterward king, and Herod's brother, Phasaelus captives,
and were them away into Parthis. Phasaelus indeed could not bear the reproach
of being in bonds; and thinking that death with glory was better than any
life whatsoever, he became his own executioner, as I have formerly related.
2. But when Hyrcanus was brought into Parthia the king Phraates treated
him after a very gentle manner, as having already learned of what an illustrious
family he was; on which account he set him free from his bonds, and gave
him a habitation at Babylon, (1)
where there were Jews in great numbers. These Jews honored Hyrcanus as
their high priest and king, as did all the Jewish nation that dwelt as
far as Euphrates; which respect was very much to his satisfaction. But
when he was informed that Herod had received the kingdom, new hopes came
upon him, as having been himself still of a kind disposition towards him,
and expecting that Herod would bear in mind what favor be had received
from him; and when he was upon his trial, and when he was in danger that
a capital sentence would be pronounced against him, he delivered him from
that danger, and from all punishment. Accordingly, he talked of that matter
with the Jew that came often to him with great affection; but they endeavored
to retain him among them, and desired that he would stay with them, putting
him in mind of the kind offices and honors they did him, and that those
honors they paid him were not at all inferior to what they could pay to
either their high priests or their kings; and what was a greater motive
to determine him, they said, was this, that he could not have those dignities
[in Judea] because of that maim in his body, which had been inflicted on
him by Antigonus; and that kings do not use to requite men for those kindnesses
which they received when they were private persons, the height of their
fortune making usually no small changes in them.
3. Now although they suggested these arguments to him for his own advantage,
yet did Hyrcanus still desire to depart. Herod also wrote to him, and persuaded
him to desire of Phraates, and the Jews that were there, that they should
not grudge him the royal authority, which he should have jointly with himself,
for that now was the proper time for himself to make him amends for the
favors he had received from him, as having been brought up by him, and
saved by him also, as well as for Hyrcanus to receive it. And as he wrote
thus to Hyrcanus, so did he send also Saramallas, his ambassador, to Phraates,
and many presents with him, and desired him in the most obliging way that
he would be no hinderance to his gratitude towards his benefactor. But
this zeal of Herod's did not flow from that principle, but because he had
been made governor of that country without having any just claim to it,
he was afraid, and that upon reasons good enough, of a change in his condition,
and so made what haste he could to get Hyrcanus into his power, or indeed
to put him quite out of the way; which last thing he compassed afterward.
4. Accordingly, when Hyrcanus came, full of assurance, by the permission
of the king of Parthia, and at the expense of the Jews, who supplied him
with money, Herod received him with all possible respect, and gave him
the upper place at public meetings, and set him above all the rest at feasts,
and thereby deceived him. He called him his father, and endeavored, by
all the ways possible, that he might have no suspicion of any treacherous
design against him. He also did other things, in order to secure his government,
which yet occasioned a sedition in his own family; for being cautious how
he made any illustrious person the high priest of God, (2)
he sent for an obscure priest out of Babylon, whose name was Ananelus,
and bestowed the high priesthood upon him.
5. However, Alexandra, the daughter of Hyrcanus, and wife of Alexander,
the son of Aristobulus the king, who had also brought Alexander [two] children,
could not bear this indignity. Now this son was one of the greatest comeliness,
and was called Aristobulus; and the daughter, Mariamne, was married to
Herod, and eminent for her beauty also. This Alexandra was much disturbed,
and took this indignity offered to her son exceeding ill, that while be
was alive, any one else should be sent for to have the dignity of the high
priesthood conferred upon him. Accordingly, she wrote to Cleopatra (a musician
assisting her in taking care to have her letters carried) to desire her
intercession with Antony, in order to gain the high priesthood for her
son.
6. But as Antony was slow in granting this request, his friend Dellius
(3) came
into Judea upon some affairs; and when he saw Aristobulus, he stood in
admiration at the tallness and handsomeness of the child, and no less at
Mariarune, the king's wife, and was open in his commendations of Alexandra,
as the mother of most beautiful children. And when she came to discourse
with him, he persuaded her to get pictures drawn of them both, and to send
them to Antony, for that when he saw them, he would deny her nothing that
she should ask. Accordingly, Alexandra was elevated with these words of
his, and sent the pictures to Antony. Dellius also talked extravagantly,
and said that these children seemed not derived from men, but from some
god or other. His design in doing so was to entice Antony into lewd pleasures
with them, who was ashamed to send for the damsel, as being the wife of
Herod, and avoided it, because of the reproaches he should have from Cleopatra
on that account; but he sent, in the most decent manner he could, for the
young man; but added this withal, unless he thought it hard upon him so
to do. When this letter was brought to Herod, he did not think it safe
for him to send one so handsome as was Aristobulus, in the prime of his
life, for he was sixteen years of age, and of so noble a family, and particularly
not to Antony, the principal man among the Romans, and one that would abuse
him in his amours, and besides, one that openly indulged himself in such
pleasures as his power allowed him without control. He therefore wrote
back to him, that if this boy should only go out of the country, all would
be in a state of war and uproar, because the Jews were in hopes of a change
in the government, and to have another king over them.
7. When Herod had thus excused himself to Antony, he resolved that he
would not entirely permit the child or Alexandra to be treated dishonorably;
but his wife Mariamne lay vehemently at him to restore the high priesthood
to her brother; and he judged it was for his advantage so to do, because
if he once had that dignity, he could not go out of the country. So he
called his friends together, and told them that Alexandra privately conspired
against his royal authority, and endeavored, by the means of Cleopatra,
so to bring it about, that he might be deprived of the government, and
that by Antony's means this youth might have the management of public affairs
in his stead; and that this procedure of hers was unjust, since she would
at the same time deprive her daughter of the dignity she now had, and would
bring disturbances upon the kingdom, for which he had taken a great deal
of pains, and had gotten it with extraordinary hazards; that yet, while
he well remembered her wicked practices, he would not leave off doing what
was right himself, but would even now give the youth the high priesthood;
and that he formerly set up Ananelus, because Aristobulus was then so very
young a child. Now when he had said this, not at random, but as he thought
with the best discretion he had, in order to deceive the women, and those
friends whom he had taken to consult withal, Alexandra, out of the great
joy she had at this unexpected promise, and out of fear from the suspicions
she lay under, fell a weeping; and made the following apology for herself;
and said, that as to the [high] priesthood, she was very much concerned
for the disgrace her son was under, and so did her utmost endeavors to
procure it for him; but that as to the kingdom, she had made no attempts,
and that if it were offered her [for her son], she would not accept it;
and that now she would be satisfied with her son's dignity, while he himself
held the civil government, and she had thereby the security that arose
from his peculiar ability in governing to all the remainder of her family;
that she was now overcome by his benefits, and thankfully accepted of this
honor showed by him to her son, and that she would hereafter be entirely
obedient. And she desired him to excuse her, if the nobility of her family,
and that freedom of acting which she thought that allowed her, had made
her act too precipitately and imprudently in this matter. So when they
had spoken thus to one another, they came to an agreement, and all suspicions,
so far as appeared, were vanished away.
CHAPTER 3.
HOW HEROD UPON HIS MAKING ARISTOBULUS HIGH PRIEST TOOK CARE
THAT HE SHOULD BE MURDERED IN A LITTLE TIME; AND WHAT APOLOGY HE MADE TO
ANTONY ABOUT ARISTOBULUS; AS ALSO CONCERNING JOSEPH AND MARIAMNE.
1. SO king Herod immediately took the high priesthood away from Ananelus,
who, as we said before, was not of this country, but one of those Jews
that had been carried captive beyond Euphrates; for there were not a few
ten thousands of this people that had been carried captives, and dwelt
about Babylonia, whence Ananelus came. He was one of the stock of the high
priests (4)
and had been of old a particular friend of Herod; and when he was first
made king, he conferred that dignity upon him, and now put him out of it
again, in order to quiet the troubles in his family, though what he did
was plainly unlawful, for at no other time [of old] was any one that had
once been in that dignity deprived of it. It was Antiochus Epiphanes who
first brake that law, and deprived Jesus, and made his brother Onias high
priest in his stead. Aristobulus was the second that did so, and took that
dignity from his brother [Hyrcanus]; and this Herod was the third, who
took that high office away [from Arianflus], and gave it to this young
man, Aristobulus, in his stead.
2. And now Herod seemed to have healed the divisions in his family;
yet was he not without suspicion, as is frequently the case, of people
seeming to be reconciled to one another, but thought that, as Alexandra
had already made attempts tending to innovations, so did he fear that she
would go on therein, if she found a fit opportunity for so doing; so he
gave a command that she should dwell in the palace, and meddle with no
public affairs. Her guards also were so careful, that nothing she did in
private life every day was concealed. All these hardships put her out of
patience, by little and little and she began to hate Herod; for as she
had the pride of a woman to the utmost degree, she had great indignation
at this suspicious guard that was about her, as desirous rather to undergo
any thing that could befall her, than to be deprived of her liberty of
speech, and, under the notion of an honorary guard, to live in a state
of slavery and terror. She therefore sent to Cleopatra, and made a long
complaint of the circumstances she was in, and entreated her to do her
utmost for her assistance. Cleopatra hereupon advised her to take her son
with her, and come away immediately to her into Egypt. This advice pleased
her; and she had this contrivance for getting away: She got two coffins
made, as if they were to carry away two dead bodies and put herself into
one, and her son into the other and gave orders to such of her servants
as knew of her intentions to carry them away in the night time. Now their
road was to be thence to the sea-side and there was a ship ready to carry
them into Egypt. Now Aesop, one of her servants, happened to fall upon
Sabion, one of her friends, and spake of this matter to him, as thinking
he had known of it before. When Sabion knew this, (who had formerly been
an enemy of Herod, and been esteemed one of those that laid snares for
and gave the poison to [his father] Antipater,) he expected that this discovery
would change Herod's hatred into kindness; so he told the king of this
private stratagem of Alexandra: whereupon be suffered her to proceed to
the execution of her project, and caught her in the very fact; but still
he passed by her offense; and though he had a great mind to do it, he durst
not inflict any thing that was severe upon her, for he knew that Cleopatra
would not bear that he should have her accused, on account of her hatred
to him; but made a show as if it were rather the generosity of his soul,
and his great moderation, that made him forgive them. However, he fully
proposed to himself to put this young man out of the way, by one means
or other; but he thought he might in probability be better concealed in
doing it, if he did it not presently, nor immediately after what had lately
happened.
3. And now, upon the approach of the feast of tabernacles, which is
a festival very much observed among us, he let those days pass over, and
both he and the rest of the people were therein very merry; yet did the
envy which at this time arose in him cause him to make haste to do what
lie was about, and provoke him to it; for when this youth Aristobulus,
who was now in the seventeenth year of his age, went up to the altar, according
to the law, to offer the sacrifices, and this with the ornaments of his
high priesthood, and when he performed the sacred offices, (5)
he seemed to be exceedingly comely, and taller than men usually were at
that age, and to exhibit in his countenance a great deal of that high family
he was sprung from, - a warm zeal and affection towards him appeared among
the people, and the memory of the actions of his grandfather Aristobulus
was fresh in their minds; and their affections got so far the mastery of
them, that they could not forbear to show their inclinations to him. They
at once rejoiced and were confounded, and mingled with good wishes their
joyful acclamations which they made to him, till the good-will of the multitude
was made too evident; and they more rashly proclaimed the happiness they
had received from his family than was fit under a monarchy to have done.
Upon all this, Herod resolved to complete what he had intended against
the young man. When therefore the festival was over, and he was feasting
at Jericho (6)
with Alexandra, who entertained them there, he was then very pleasant with
the young man, and drew him into a lonely place, and at the same time played
with him in a juvenile and ludicrous manner. Now the nature of that place
was hotter than ordinary; so they went out in a body, and of a sudden,
and in a vein of madness; and as they stood by the fish-ponds, of which
there were large ones about the house, they went to cool themselves [by
bathing], because it was in the midst of a hot day. At first they were
only spectators of Herod's servants and acquaintance as they were swimming;
but after a while, the young man, at the instigation of Herod, went into
the water among them, while such of Herod's acquaintance, as he had appointed
to do it, dipped him as he was swimming, and plunged him under water, in
the dark of the evening, as if it had been done in sport only; nor did
they desist till he was entirely suffocated. And thus was Aristobulus murdered,
having lived no more in all than eighteen years, (7)
and kept the high priesthood one year only; which high priesthood Ananelus
now recovered again.
4. When this sad accident was told the women, their joy was soon changed
to lamentation, at the sight of the dead body that lay before them, and
their sorrow was immoderate. The city also [of Jerusalem], upon the spreading
of this news, were in very great grief, every family looking on this calamity
as if it had not belonged to another, but that one of themselves was slain.
But Alexandra was more deeply affected, upon her knowledge that he had
been destroyed [on purpose]. Her sorrow was greater than that of others,
by her knowing how the murder was committed; but she was under the necessity
of bearing up under it, out of her prospect of a greater mischief that
might otherwise follow; and she oftentimes came to an inclination to kill
herself with her own hand, but still she restrained herself, in hopes she
might live long enough to revenge the unjust murder thus privately committed;
nay, she further resolved to endeavor to live longer, and to give no occasion
to think she suspected that her son was slain on purpose, and supposed
that she might thereby be in a capacity of revenging it at a proper opportunity.
Thus did she restrain herself, that she might not be noted for entertaining
any such suspicion. However, Herod endeavored that none abroad should believe
that the child's death was caused by any design of his; and for this purpose
he did not only use the ordinary signs of sorrow, but fell into tears also,
and exhibited a real confusion of soul; and perhaps his affections were
overcome on this occasion, when he saw the child's countenance so young
and so beautiful, although his death was supposed to tend to his own security.
So far at least this grief served as to make some apology for him; and
as for his funeral, that he took care should be very magnificent, by making
great preparation for a sepulcher to lay his body in, and providing a great
quantity of spices, and burying many ornaments together with him, till
the very women, who were in such deep sorrow, were astonished at it, and
received in this way some consolation.
5. However, no such things could overcome Alexandra's grief; but the
remembrance of this miserable case made her sorrow, both deep and obstinate.
Accordingly, she wrote an account of this treacherous scene to Cleopatra,
and how her son was murdered; but Cleopatra, as she had formerly been desirous
to give her what satisfaction she could, and commiserating Alexandra's
misfortunes, made the case her own, and would not let Antony be quiet,
but excited him to punish the child's murder; for that it was an unworthy
thing that Herod, who had been by him made king of a kingdom that no way
belonged to him, should be guilty of such horrid crimes against those that
were of the royal blood in reality. Antony was persuaded by these arguments;
and when he came to Laodicea, he sent and commanded Herod to come and make
his defense, as to what he had done to Aristobulus, for that such a treacherous
design was not well done, if he had any hand in it. Herod was now in fear,
both of the accusation, and of Cleopatra's ill-will to him, which was such
that she was ever endeavoring to make Antony hate him. He therefore determined
to obey his summons, for he had no possible way to avoid it. So he left
his uncle Joseph procurator for his government, and for the public affairs,
and gave him a private charge, that if Antony should kill him, he also
should kill Mariamne immediately; for that he had a tender affection for
this his wife, and was afraid of the injury that should be offered him,
if, after his death, she, for her beauty, should be engaged to some other
man: but his intimation was nothing but this at the bottom, that Antony
had fallen in love with her, when he had formerly heard somewhat of her
beauty. So when Herod had given Joseph this charge, and had indeed no sure
hopes of escaping with his life, he went away to Antony.
6. But as Joseph was administering the public affairs of the kingdom,
and for that reason was very frequently with Mariamne, both because his
business required it, and because of the respects he ought to pay to the
queen, he frequently let himself into discourses about Herod's kindness,
and great affection towards her; and when the women, especially Alexandra,
used to turn his discourses into feminine raillery, Joseph was so over-desirous
to demonstrate the kings inclinations, that he proceeded so far as to mention
the charge he had received, and thence drew his demonstration, that Herod
was not able to live without her; and that if he should come to any ill
end, he could not endure a separation from her, even after he was dead.
Thus spake Joseph. But the women, as was natural, did not take this to
be an instance of Herod's strong affection for them, but of his severe
usage of them, that they could not escape destruction, nor a tyrannical
death, even when he was dead himself. And this saying [of Joseph] was a
foundation for the women's severe suspicions about him afterwards.
7. At this time a report went about the city Jerusalem among Herod's
enemies, that Antony had tortured Herod, and put him to death. This report,
as is natural, disturbed those that were about the palace, but chiefly
the women; upon which Alexandra endeavored to persuade Joseph to go out
of the palace, and fly away with them to the ensigns of the Roman legion,
which then lay encamped about the city, as a guard to the kingdom, under
the command of Julius; for that by this means, if any disturbance should
happen about the palace, they should be in greater security, as having
the Romans favorable to them; and that besides, they hoped to obtain the
highest authority, if Antony did but once see Mariamne, by whose means
they should recover the kingdom, and want nothing which was reasonable
for them to hope for, because of their royal extraction.
8. But as they were in the midst of these deliberations, letters were
brought from Herod about all his affairs, and proved contrary to the report,
and of what they before expected; for when he was come to Antony, he soon
recovered his interest with him, by the presents he made him, which he
had brought with him from Jerusalem; and he soon induced him, upon discoursing
with him, to leave off his indignation at him, so that Cleopatra's persuasions
had less force than the arguments and presents he brought to regain his
friendship; for Antony said that it was not good to require an account
of a king, as to the affairs of his government, for at this rate he could
be no king at all, but that those who had given him that authority ought
to permit him to make use of it. He also said the same things to Cleopatra,
that it would be best for her not busily to meddle with the acts of the
king's government. Herod wrote an account of these things, and enlarged
upon the other honors which he had received from Antony; how he sat by
him at his hearing causes, and took his diet with him every day, and that
he enjoyed those favors from him, notwithstanding the reproaches that Cleopatra
so severely laid against him, who having a great desire of his country,
and earnestly entreating Antony that the kingdom might be given to her,
labored with her utmost diligence to have him out of the way; but that
he still found Antony just to him, and had no longer any apprehensions
of hard treatment from him; and that he was soon upon his return, with
a firmer additional assurance of his favor to him, in his reigning and
managing public affairs; and that there was no longer any hope for Cleopatra's
covetous temper, since Antony had given her Celesyria instead of what she
had desired; by which means he had at once pacified her, and got clear
of the entreaties which she made him to have Judea bestowed upon her.
9. When these letters were brought, the women left off their attempt
for flying to the Romans, which they thought of while Herod was supposed
to be dead; yet was not that purpose of theirs a secret; but when the king
had conducted Antony on his way against the Partnians, he returned to Judea,
when both his sister Salome and his mother informed him of Alexandra's
intentions. Salome also added somewhat further against Joseph, though it
was no more than a calumny, that he had often had criminal conversation
with Mariamne. The reason of her saying so was this, that she for a long
time bare her ill-will; for when they had differences with one another,
Mariamne took great freedoms, and reproached the rest for the meanness
of their birth. But Herod, whose affection to Mariamne was always very
warm, was presently disturbed at this, and could not bear the torments
of jealousy, but was still restrained from doing any rash thing to her
by the love he had for her; yet did his vehement affection and jealousy
together make him ask Mariamne by herself about this matter of Joseph;
but she denied it upon her oath, and said all that an innocent woman could
possibly say in her own defense; so that by little and little the king
was prevailed upon to drop the suspicion, and left off his anger at her;
and being overcome with his passion for his wife, he made an apology to
her for having seemed to believe what he had heard about her, and returned
her a great many acknowledgments of her modest behavior, and professed
the extraordinary affection and kindness he had for her, till at last,
as is usual between lovers, they both fell into tears, and embraced one
another with a most tender affection. But as the king gave more and more
assurances of his belief of her fidelity, and endeavored to draw her to
a like confidence in him, Marianme said, Yet was not that command thou
gavest, that if any harm came to thee from Antony, I, who had been no occasion
of it, should perish with thee, a sign of thy love to me?" When these
words were fallen from her, the king was shocked at them, and presently
let her go out of his arms, and cried out, and tore his hair with his own
hands, and said, that "now he had an evident demonstration that Joseph
had had criminal conversation with his wife; for that he would never have
uttered what he had told him alone by himself, unless there had been such
a great familiarity and firm confidence between them. And while he was
in this passion he had like to have killed his wife; but being still overborne
by his love to her, he restrained this his passion, though not without
a lasting grief and disquietness of mind. However, he gave order to slay
Joseph, without permitting him to come into his sight; and as for Alexandra,
he bound her, and kept her in custody, as the cause of all this mischief.
CHAPTER 4.
HOW CLEOPATRA, WHEN SHE HAD GOTTEN FROM ANTONY SOME PARTS
OF JUDEA AND ARABIA CAME INTO JUDEA; AND HOW HEROD GAVE HER MANY PRESENTS
AND CONDUCTED HER ON HER WAY BACK TO EGYPT.
1. NOW at this time the affairs of Syria were in confusion by Cleopatra's
constant persuasions to Antony to make an attempt upon every body's dominions;
for she persuaded him to take those dominions away from their several princes,
and bestow them upon her; and she had a mighty influence upon him, by reason
of his being enslaved to her by his affections. She was also by nature
very covetous, and stuck at no wickedness. She had already poisoned her
brother, because she knew that he was to be king of Egypt, and this when
he was but fifteen years old; and she got her sister Arsinoe to be slain,
by the means of Antony, when she was a supplicant at Diana's temple at
Ephesus; for if there were but any hopes of getting money, she would violate
both temples and sepulchers. Nor was there any holy place that was esteemed
the most inviolable, from which she would not fetch the ornaments it had
in it; nor any place so profane, but was to suffer the most flagitious
treatment possible from her, if it could but contribute somewhat to the
covetous humor of this wicked creature: yet did not all this suffice so
extravagant a woman, who was a slave to her lusts, but she still imagined
that she wanted every thing she could think of, and did her utmost to gain
it; for which reason she hurried Antony on perpetually to deprive others
of their dominions, and give them to her. And as she went over Syria with
him, she contrived to get it into her possession; so he slew Lysanias,
the son of Ptolemy, accusing him of his bringing the Parthians upon those
countries. She also petitioned Antony to give her Judea and Arabia; and,
in order thereto, desired him to take these countries away from their present
governors. As for Antony, he was so entirely overcome by this woman, that
one would not think her conversation only could do it, but that he was
some way or other bewitched to do whatsoever she would have him; yet did
the grossest parts of her injustice make him so ashamed, that he would
not always hearken to her to do those flagrant enormities she would have
persuaded him to. That therefore he might not totally deny her, nor, by
doing every thing which she enjoined him, appear openly to be an ill man,
he took some parts of each of those countries away from their former governors,
and gave them to her. Thus he gave her the cities that were within the
river Eleutherus, as far as Egypt, excepting Tyre and Sidon, which he knew
to have been free cities from their ancestors, although she pressed him
very often to bestow those on her also.
2. When Cleopatra had obtained thus much, and had accompanied Antony
in his expedition to Armenia as far as Euphrates, she returned back, and
came to Apamia and Damascus, and passed on to Judea, where Herod met her,
and farmed of her parts of Arabia, and those revenues that came to her
from the region about Jericho. This country bears that balsam, which is
the most precious drug that is there, and grows there alone. The place
bears also palm trees, both many in number, and those excellent in their
kind. When she was there, and was very often with Herod, she endeavored
to have criminal conversation with the king; nor did she affect secrecy
in the indulgence of such sort of pleasures; and perhaps she had in some
measure a passion of love to him; or rather, what is most probable, she
laid a treacherous snare for him, by aiming to obtain such adulterous conversation
from him: however, upon the whole, she seemed overcome with love to him.
Now Herod had a great while borne no good-will to Cleopatra, as knowing
that she was a woman irksome to all; and at that time he thought her particularly
worthy of his hatred, if this attempt proceeded out of lust; he had also
thought of preventing her intrigues, by putting her to death, if such were
her endeavors. However, he refused to comply with her proposals, and called
a counsel of his friends to consult with them whether he should not kill
her, now he had her in his power; for that he should thereby deliver all
those from a multitude of evils to whom she was already become irksome,
and was expected to be still so for the time to come; and that this very
thing would be much for the advantage of Antony himself, since she would
certainly not be faithful to him, in case any such season or necessity
should come upon him as that he should stand in need of her fidelity. But
when he thought to follow this advice, his friends would not let him; and
told him that, in the first place, it was not right to attempt so great
a thing, and run himself thereby into the utmost danger; and they laid
hard at him, and begged of him to undertake nothing rashly, for that Antony
would never bear it, no, not though any one should evidently lay before
his eyes that it was for his own advantage; and that the appearance of
depriving him of her conversation, by this violent and treacherous method,
would probably set his affections more on a flame than before. Nor did
it appear that he could offer any thing of tolerable weight in his defense,
this attempt being against such a woman as was of the highest dignity of
any of her sex at that time in the world; and as to any advantage to be
expected from such an undertaking, if any such could be supposed in this
case, it would appear to deserve condemnation, on account of the insolence
he must take upon him in doing it: which considerations made it very plain
that in so doing he would find his government filled with mischief, both
great and lasting, both to himself and his posterity, whereas it was still
in his power to reject that wickedness she would persuade him to, and to
come off honorably at the same time. So by thus affrighting Herod, and
representing to him the hazard he must, in all probability, run by this
undertaking, they restrained him from it. So he treated Cleopatra kindly,
and made her presents, and conducted her on her way to Egypt.
3. But Antony subdued Armenia, and sent Artabazes, the son of Tigranes,
in bonds, with his children and procurators, to Egypt, and made a present
of them, and of all the royal ornaments which he had taken out of that
kingdom, to Cleopatra. And Artaxias, the eldest of his sons, who had escaped
at that time, took the kingdom of Armenia; who yet was ejected by Archclaus
and Nero Caesar, when they restored Tigranes, his younger brother, to that
kingdom; but this happened a good while afterward.
4. But then, as to the tributes which Herod was to pay Cleopatra for
that country which Antony had given her, he acted fairly with her, as deeming
it not safe for him to afford any cause for Cleopatra to hate him. As for
the king of Arabia, whose tribute Herod had undertaken to pay her, for
some time indeed he paid him as much as came to two hundred talents; but
he afterwards became very niggardly and slow in his payments, and could
hardly be brought to pay some parts of it, and was not willing to pay even
them without some deductions.
CHAPTER 5.
HOW HEROD MADE WAR WITH THE KING OF ARABIA, AND AFTER THEY
HAD FOUGHT MANY BATTLES, AT LENGTH CONQUERED HIM, AND WAS CHOSEN BY THE
ARABS TO BE GOVERNOR OF THAT NATION; AS ALSO CONCERNING A GREAT EARTHQUAKE.
1. HEREUPON Herod held himself ready to go against the king of Arabia,
because of his ingratitude to him, and because, after all, he would do
nothing that was just to him, although Herod made the Roman war an occasion
of delaying his own; for the battle at Actium was now expected, which fell
into the hundred eighty and seventh olympiad, where Caesar and Antony were
to fight for the supreme power of the world; but Herod having enjoyed a
country that was very fruitful, and that now for a long time, and having
received great taxes, and raised great armies therewith, got together a
body of men, and carefully furnished them with all necessaries, and designed
them as auxiliaries for Antony. But Antony said he had no want of his assistance;
but he commanded him to punish the king of Arabia; for he had heard both
from him, and from Cleopatra, how perfidious he was; for this was what
Cleopatra desired, who thought it for her own advantage that these two
kings should do one another as great mischief as possible. Upon this message
from Antony, Herod returned back, but kept his army with him, in order
to invade Arabia immediately. So when his army of horsemen and footmen
was ready, he marched to Diospolis, whither the Arabians came also to meet
them, for they were not unapprized of this war that was coming upon them;
and after a great battle had been fought, the Jews had the victory. But
afterward there were gotten together another numerous army of the Arabians,
at Cana, which is a place of Celesyria. Herod was informed of this beforehand;
so he came marching against them with the greatest part of the forces he
had; and when he was come near to Cana, he resolved to encamp himself;
and he cast up a bulwark, that he might take a proper season for attacking
the enemy; but as he was giving those orders, the multitude of the Jews
cried out that he should make no delay, but lead them against the Arabians.
They went with great spirit, as believing they were in very good order;
and those especially were so that had been in the former battle, and had
been conquerors, and had not permitted their enemies so much as to come
to a close fight with them. And when they were so tumultuous, and showed
such great alacrity, the king resolved to make use of that zeal the multitude
then exhibited; and when he had assured them he would not be behindhand
with them in courage, he led them on, and stood before them all in his
armor, all the regiments following him in their several ranks: whereupon
a consternation fell upon the Arabians; for when they perceived that the
Jews were not to be conquered, and were full of spirit, the greater part
of them ran away, and avoided fighting; and they had been quite destroyed,
had not Anthony fallen upon the Jews, and distressed them; for this man
was Cleopatra's general over the soldiers she had there, and was at enmity
with Herod, and very wistfully looked on to see what the event of the battle
would be. He had also resolved, that in case the Arabians did any thing
that was brave and successful, he would lie still; but in case they were
beaten, as it really happened, he would attack the Jews with those forces
he had of his own, and with those that the country had gotten together
for him. So he fell upon the Jews unexpectedly, when they were fatigued,
and thought they had already vanquished the enemy, and made a great slaughter
of them; for as the Jews had spent their courage upon their known enemies,
and were about to enjoy themselves in quietness after their victory, they
were easily beaten by these that attacked them afresh, and in particular
received a great loss in places where the horses could not be of service,
and which were very stony, and where those that attacked them were better
acquainted with the places than themselves. And when the Jews had suffered
this loss, the Arabians raised their spirits after their defeat, and returning
back again, slew those that were already put to flight; and indeed all
sorts of slaughter were now frequent, and of those that escaped, a few
only returned into the camp. So king Herod, when he despaired of the battle,
rode up to them to bring them assistance; yet did he not come time enough
to do them any service, though he labored hard to do it; but the Jewish
camp was taken; so that the Arabians had unexpectedly a most glorious success,
having gained that victory which of themselves they were no way likely
to have gained, and slaying a great part of the enemy's army: whence afterward
Herod could only act like a private robber, and make excursions upon many
parts of Arabia, and distress them by sudden incursions, while he encamped
among the mountains, and avoided by any means to come to a pitched battle;
yet did he greatly harass the enemy by his assiduity, and the hard labor
he took in this matter. He also took great care of his own forces, and
used all the means he could to restore his affairs to their old state.
2. At this time it was that the fight happened at Actium, between Octavius
Caesar and Antony, in the seventh year of the reign of Herod (8)
and then it was also that there was an earthquake in Judea, such a one
as had not happened at any other time, and which earthquake brought a great
destruction upon the cattle in that country. About ten thousand men also
perished by the fall of houses; but the army, which lodged in the field,
received no damage by this sad accident. When the Arabians were informed
of this, and when those that hated the Jews, and pleased themselves with
aggravating the reports, told them of it, they raised their spirits, as
if their enemy's country was quite overthrown, and the men were utterly
destroyed, and thought there now remained nothing that could oppose them.
Accordingly, they took the Jewish ambassadors, who came to them after all
this had happened, to make peace with them, and slew them, and came with
great alacrity against their army; but the Jews durst not withstand them,
and were so cast down by the calamities they were under, that they took
no care of their affairs, but gave up themselves to despair; for they had
no hope that they should be upon a level again with them in battles, nor
obtain any assistance elsewhere, while their affairs at home were in such
great distress also. When matters were in this condition, the king persuaded
the commanders by his words, and tried to raise their spirits, which were
quite sunk; and first he endeavored to encourage and embolden some of the
better sort beforehand, and then ventured to make a speech to the multitude,
which he had before avoided to do, lest he should find them uneasy thereat,
because of the misfortunes which had happened; so he made a consolatory
speech to the multitude, in the manner following:
3. "You are not unacquainted, my fellow soldiers, that we have
had, not long since, many accidents that have put a stop to what we are
about, and it is probable that even those that are most distinguished above
others for their courage can hardly keep up their spirits in such circumstances;
but since we cannot avoid fighting, and nothing that hath happened is of
such a nature but it may by ourselves be recovered into a good state, and
this by one brave action only well performed, I have proposed to myself
both to give you some encouragement, and, at the same time, some information;
both which parts of my design will tend to this point; that you may still
continue in your own proper fortitude. I will then, in the first place,
demonstrate to you that this war is a just one on our side, and that on
this account it is a war of necessity, and occasioned by the injustice
of our adversaries; for if you be once satisfied of this, it will be a
real cause of alacrity to you; after which I will further demonstrate,
that the misfortunes we are under are of no great consequence, and that
we have the greatest reason to hope for victory. I shall begin with the
first, and appeal to yourselves as witnesses to what I shall say. You are
not ignorant certainly of the wickedness of the Arabians, which is to that
degree as to appear incredible to all other men, and to include somewhat
that shows the grossest barbarity and ignorance of God. The chief things
wherein they have affronted us have arisen from covetousness and envy;
and they have attacked us in an insidious manner, and on the sudden. And
what occasion is there for me to mention many instances of such their procedure?
When they were in danger of losing their own government of themselves,
and of being slaves to Cleopatra, what others were they that freed them
from that fear? for it was the friendship. I had with Antony, and the kind
disposition he was in towards us, that hath been the occasion that even
these Arabians have not been utterly undone, Antony being unwilling to
undertake any thing which might be suspected by us of unkindness: but when
he had a mind to bestow some parts of each of our dominions on Cleopatra,
I also managed that matter so, that by giving him presents of my own, I
might obtain a security to both nations, while I undertook myself to answer
for the money, and gave him two hundred talents, and became surety for
those two hundred more which were imposed upon the land that was subject
to this tribute; and this they have defrauded us of, although it was not
reasonable that Jews should pay tribute to any man living, or allow part
of their land to be taxable; but although that was to be, yet ought we
not to pay tribute for these Arabians, whom we have ourselves preserved;
nor is it fit that they, who have professed (and that with great integrity
and sense of our kindness) that it is by our means that they keep their
principality, should injure us, and deprive us of what is our due, and
this while we have been still not their enemies, but their friends. And
whereas observation of covenants takes place among the bitterest enemies,
but among friends is absolutely necessary, this is not observed among these
men, who think gain to be the best of all things, let it be by any means
whatsoever, and that injustice is no harm, if they may but get money by
it: is it therefore a question with you, whether the unjust are to be punished
or not? when God himself hath declared his mind that so it ought to be,
and hath commanded that we ever should hate injuries and injustice, which
is not only just, but necessary, in wars between several nations; for these
Arabians have done what both the Greeks and barbarians own to be an instance
of the grossest wickedness, with regard to our ambassadors, which they
have beheaded, while the Greeks declare that such ambassadors are sacred
and inviolable. (9)
And for ourselves, we have learned from God the most excellent of our doctrines,
and the most holy part of our law, by angels or ambassadors; for this name
brings God to the knowledge of mankind, and is sufficient to reconcile
enemies one to another. What wickedness then can be greater than the slaughter
of ambassadors, who come to treat about doing what is right? And when such
have been their actions, how is it possible they can either live securely
in common life, or be successful in war? In my opinion, this is impossible;
but perhaps some will say, that what is holy, and what is righteous, is
indeed on our side, but that the Arabians are either more courageous or
more numerous than we are. Now, as to this, in the first place, it is not
fit for us to say so, for with whom is what is righteous, with them is
God himself; now where God is, there is both multitude and courage. But
to examine our own circumstances a little, we were conquerors in the first
battle; and when we fought again, they were not able to oppose us, but
ran away, and could not endure our attacks or our courage; but when we
had conquered them, then came Athenion, and made war against us without
declaring it; and pray, is this an instance of their manhood? or is it
not a second instance of their wickedness and treachery? Why are we therefore
of less courage, on account of that which ought to inspire us with stronger
hopes? and why are we terrified at these, who, when they fight upon the
level, are continually beaten, and when they seem to be conquerors, they
gain it by wickedness? and if we suppose that any one should deem them
to be men of real courage, will not he be excited by that very consideration
to do his utmost against them? for true valor is not shown by fighting
against weak persons, but in being able to overcome the most hardy. But
then if the distresses we are ourselves under, and the miseries that have
come by the earthquake, hath aftrighted any one, let him consider, in the
first place, that this very thing will deceive the Arabians, by their supposal
that what hath befallen us is greater than it really is. Moreover, it is
not right that the same thing that emboldens them should discourage us;
for these men, you see, do not derive their alacrity from any advantageous
virtue of their own, but from their hope, as to us, that we are quite cast
down by our misfortunes; but when we boldly march against them, we shall
soon pull down their insolent conceit of themselves, and shall gain this
by attacking them, that they will not be so insolent when we come to the
battle; for our distresses are not so great, nor is what hath happened
all indication of the anger of God against us, as some imagine; for such
things are accidental, and adversities that come in the usual course of
things; and if we allow that this was done by the will of God, we must
allow that it is now over by his will also, and that he is satisfied with
what hath already happened; for had he been willing to afflict us still
more thereby, he had not changed his mind so soon. And as for the war we
are engaged in, he hath himself demonstrated that he is willing it should
go on, and that he knows it to be a just war; for while some of the people
in the country have perished, all you who were in arms have suffered nothing,
but are all preserved alive; whereby God makes it plain to us, that if
you had universally, with your children and wives, been in the army, it
had come to pass that you had not undergone any thing that would have much
hurt you. Consider these things, and, what is more than all the rest, that
you have God at all times for your Protector; and prosecute these men with
a just bravery, who, in point of friendship, are unjust, in their battles
perfidious, towards ambassadors impious, and always inferior to you in
valor."
4. When the Jews heard this speech, they were much raised in their minds,
and more disposed to fight than before. So Herod, when he had offered the
sacrifices appointed by the law (10)
made haste, and took them, and led them against the Arabians; and in order
to that passed over Jordan, and pitched his camp near to that of the enemy.
He also thought fit to seize upon a certain castle that lay in the midst
of them, as hoping it would be for his advantage, and would the sooner
produce a battle; and that if there were occasion for delay, he should
by it have his camp fortified; and as the Arabians had the same intentions
upon that place, a contest arose about it; at first they were but skirmishes,
after which there came more soldiers, and it proved a sort of fight, and
some fell on both sides, till those of the Arabian side were beaten and
retreated. This was no small encouragement to the Jews immediately; and
when Herod observed that the enemy's army was disposed to any thing rather
than to come to an engagement, he ventured boldly to attempt the bulwark
itself, and to pull it to pieces, and so to get nearer to their camp, in
order to fight them; for when they were forced out of their trenches, they
went out in disorder, and had not the least alacrity, or hope of victory;
yet did they fight hand to hand, because they were more in number than
the Jews, and because they were in such a disposition of war that they
were under a necessity of coming on boldly; so they came to a terrible
battle, while not a few fell on each side. However, at length the Arabians
fled; and so great a slaughter was made upon their being routed, that they
were not only killed by their enemies, but became the authors of their
own deaths also, and were trodden down by the multitude, and the great
current of people in disorder, and were destroyed by their own armor; so
five thousand men lay dead upon the spot, while the rest of the multitude
soon ran within the bulwark for safety, but had no firm hope of safety,
by reason of their want of necessaries, and especially of water. The Jews
pursued them, but could not get in with them, but sat round about the bulwark,
and watched any assistance that would get in to them, and prevented any
there, that had a mind to it, from running away.
5. When the Arabians were in these circumstances, they sent ambassadors
to Herod, in the first place, to propose terms of accommodation, and after
that to offer him, so pressing was their thirst upon them, to undergo whatsoever
he pleased, if he would free them from their present distress; but he would
admit of no ambassadors, of no price of redemption, nor of any other moderate
terms whatever, being very desirous to revenge those unjust actions which
they had been guilty of towards his nation. So they were necessitated by
other motives, and particularly by their thirst, to come out, and deliver
themselves up to him, to be carried away captives; and in five days' time
the number of four thousand were taken prisoners, while all the rest resolved
to make a sally upon their enemies, and to fight it out with them, choosing
rather, if so it must be, to die therein, than to perish gradually and
ingloriously. When they had taken this resolution, they came out of their
trenches, but could no way sustain the fight, being too much disabled,
both in mind and body, and having not room to exert themselves, and thought
it an advantage to be killed, and a misery to survive; so at the first
onset there fell about seven thousand of them, after which stroke they
let all the courage they had put on before fall, and stood amazed at Herod's
warlike spirit under his own calamities; so for the future they yielded,
and made him ruler of their nation; whereupon he was greatly elevated at
so seasonable a success, and returned home, taking great authority upon
him, on account of so bold and glorious an expedition as he had made.
CHAPTER 6.
HOW HEROD SLEW HYRCANUS AND THEN HASTED AWAY TO CAESAR, AND
OBTAINED THE KINGDOM FROM HIM ALSO; AND HOW A LITTLE TIME AFTERWARD, HE
ENTERTAINED CAESAR IN A MOST HONORABLE MANNER.
1. HEROD'S other affairs were now very prosperous, and he was not to
be easily assaulted on any side. Yet did there come upon him a danger that
would hazard his entire dominions, after Antony had been beaten at the
battle of Actium by Caesar [Octarian]; for at that time both Herod's enemies
and friends despaired of his affairs, for it was not probable that he would
remain without punishment, who had showed so much friendship for Antony.
So it happened that his friends despaired, and had no hopes of his escape;
but for his enemies, they all outwardly appeared to be troubled at his
case, but were privately very glad of it, as hoping to obtain a change
for the better. As for Herod himself he saw that there was no one of royal
dignity left but Hyrcanus, and therefore he thought it would be for his
advantage not to suffer him to be an obstacle in his way any longer; for
that in case he himself survived, and escaped the danger he was in, he
thought it the safest way to put it out of the power of such a man to make
any attempt against him, at such junctures of affairs, as was more worthy
of the kingdom than himself; and in case he should be slain by Caesar,
his envy prompted him to desire to slay him that would otherwise be king
after him.
2. While Herod had these things in his mind, there was a certain occasion
afforded him: for Hyrcanus was of so mild a temper, both then and at other
times, that he desired not to meddle with public affairs, nor to concern
himself with innovations, but left all to fortune, and contented himself
with what that afforded him: but Alexandra [his daughter] was a lover of
strife, and was exceeding desirous of a change of the government, and spake
to her father not to bear for ever Herod's injurious treatment of their
family, but to anticipate their future hopes, as he safely might; and desired
him to write about these matters to Malchus, who was then governor of Arabia,
to receive them, and to secure them [from Herod], for that if they went
away, and Herod's affairs proved to be as it was likely they would be,
by reason of Caesar's enmity to him, they should then be the only persons
that could take the government; and this, both on account of the royal
family they were of, and on account of the good disposition of: the multitude
to them. While she used these persuasions, Hyrcanus put off her suit; but
as she showed that she was a woman, and a contentious woman too, and would
not desist either night or day, but would always be speaking to him about
these matters, and about Herod's treacherous designs, she at last prevailed
with him to intrust Dositheus, one of his friends, with a letter, wherein
his resolution was declared; and he desired the Arabian governor to send
to him some horsemen, who should receive him, and conduct him to the lake
Asphaltites, which is from the bounds of Jerusalem three hundred furlongs:
and he did therefore trust Dositheus with this letter, because he was a
careful attendant on him, and on Alexandra, and had no small occasions
to bear ill-will to Herod; for he was a kinsman of one Joseph, whom he
had slain, and a brother of those that were formerly slain at Tyre by Antony:
yet could not these motives induce Dositheus to serve Hyrcanus in this
affair; for, preferring the hopes he had from the present king to those
he had from him, he gave Herod the letter. So he took his kindness in good
part, and bid him besides do what he had already done, that is, go on in
serving him, by rolling up the epistle and sealing it again, and delivering
it to Malchus, and then to bring back his letter in answer to it; for it
would be much better if he could know Malchus's intentions also. And when
Dositheus was very ready to serve him in this point also, the Arabian governor
returned back for answer, that he would receive Hyrcanus, and all that
should come with him, and even all the Jews that were of his party; that
he would, moreover, send forces sufficient to secure them in their journey;
and that he should be in no want of any thing he should desire. Now as
soon as Herod had received this letter, he immediately sent for Hyrcanus,
and questioned him about the league he had made with Malchus; and when
he denied it, he showed his letter to the Sanhedrim, and put the man to
death immediately.
3. And this account we give the reader, as it is contained in the commentaries
of king Herod: but other historians do not agree with them, for they suppose
that Herod did not find, but rather make, this an occasion for thus putting
him to death, and that by treacherously laying a snare for him; for thus
do they write: That Herod and he were once at a treat, and that Herod had
given no occasion to suspect [that he was displeased at him], but put this
question to Hyrcanus, Whether he had received any letters from Malchus?
and when he answered that he had received letters, but those of salutation
only; and when he asked further, whether he had not received any presents
from him? and when he had replied that he had received no more than four
horses to ride on, which Malchus had sent him; they pretended that Herod
charged these upon him as the crimes of bribery and treason, and gave order
that he should be led away and slain. And in order to demonstrate that
he had been guilty of no offense, when he was thus brought to his end,
they alleged how mild his temper had been, and that even in his youth he
had never given any demonstration of boldness or rashness, and that the
case was the same when he came to be king, but that he even then committed
the management of the greatest part of public affairs to Antipater; and
that he was now above fourscore years old, and knew that Herod's government
was in a secure state. He also came over Euphrates, and left those who
greatly honored him beyond that river, though he were to be entirely under
Herod's government; and that it was a most incredible thing that he should
enterprise any thing by way of innovation, and not at all agreeable to
his temper, but that this was a plot of Herod's contrivance.
4. And this was the fate of Hyrcanus; and thus did he end his life,
after he had endured various and manifold turns of fortune in his lifetime.
For he was made high priest of the Jewish nation in the beginning of his
mother Alexandra's reign, who held the government nine years; and when,
after his mother's death, he took the kingdom himself, and held it three
months, he lost it, by the means of his brother Aristobulus. He was then
restored by Pompey, and received all sorts of honor from him, and enjoyed
them forty years; but when he was again deprived by Antigonus, and was
maimed in his body, he was made a captive by the Parthians, and thence
returned home again after some time, on account of the hopes that Herod
had given him; none of which came to pass according to his expectation,
but he still conflicted with many misfortunes through the whole course
of his life; and, what was the heaviest calamity of all, as we have related
already, he came to an end which was undeserved by him. His character appeared
to be that of a man of a mild and moderate disposition, and suffered the
administration of affairs to be generally done by others under him. He
was averse to much meddling with the public, nor had shrewdness enough
to govern a kingdom. And both Antipater and Herod came to their greatness
by reason of his mildness; and at last he met with such an end from them
as was not agreeable either to justice or piety.
5. Now Herod, as soon as he had put Hyrcanus out of the way, made haste
to Caesar; and because he could not have any hopes of kindness from him,
on account of the friendship he had for Antony, he had a suspicion of Alexandra,
lest she should take this opportunity to bring the multitude to a revolt,
and introduce a sedition into the affairs of the kingdom; so he committed
the care of every thing to his brother Pheroras, and placed his mother
Cypros, and his sister [Salome], and the whole family at Masada, and gave
him a charge, that if he should hear any sad news about him, he should
take care of the government. But as to Mariamne his wife, because of the
misunderstanding between her and his sister, and his sister's mother, which
made it impossible for them to live together, he placed her at Alexandrium,
with Alexandra her mother, and left his treasurer Joseph and Sohemus of
Iturea to take care of that fortress. These two had been very faithful
to him from the beginning, and were now left as a guard to the women. They
also had it in charge, that if they should hear any mischief had befallen
him, they should kill them both, and, as far as they were able, to preserve
the kingdom for his sons, and for his brother Pheroras.
6. When he had given them this charge, he made haste to Rhodes, to meet
Caesar; and when he had sailed to that city, he took off his diadem, but
remitted nothing else of his usual dignity. And when, upon his meeting
him, he desired that he would let him speak to him, he therein exhibited
a much more noble specimen of a great soul; for he did not betake himself
to supplications, as men usually do upon such occasions, nor offered him
any petition, as if he were an offender; but, after an undaunted manner,
gave an account of what he had done; for he spake thus to Caesar: That
he had the greatest friendship for Antony, and did every thing he could
that he might attain the government; that he was not indeed in the army
with him, because the Arabians had diverted him; but that he had sent him
both money and corn, which was but too little in comparison of what he
ought to have done for him; "for if a man owns himself to be another's
friend, and knows him to be a benefactor, he is obliged to hazard every
thing, to use every faculty of his soul, every member of his body, and
all the wealth he hath, for him, in which I confess I have been too deficient.
However, I am conscious to myself, that so far I have done right, that
I have not deserted him upon his defeat at Actium; nor upon the evident
change of his fortune have I transferred my hopes from him to another,
but have preserved myself, though not as a valuable fellow soldier, yet
certainly as a faithful counselor, to Antony, when I demonstrated to him
that the only way that he had to save himself, and not to lose all his
authority, was to slay Cleopatra; for when she was once dead, there would
be room for him to retain his authority, and rather to bring thee to make
a composition with him, than to continue at enmity any longer. None of
which advises would he attend to, but preferred his own rash resolution
before them, which have happened unprofitably for him, but profitably for
thee. Now, therefore, in case thou determinest about me, and my alacrity
in serving Antony, according to thy anger at him, I own there is no room
for me to deny what I have done, nor will I be ashamed to own, and that
publicly too, that I had a great kindness for him. But if thou wilt put
him out of the case, and only examine how I behave myself to my benefactors
in general, and what sort of friend I am, thou wilt find by experience
that we shall do and be the same to thyself, for it is but changing the
names, and the firmness of friendship that we shall bear to thee will not
be disapproved by thee."
7. By this speech, and by his behavior, which showed Caesar the frankness
of his mind, he greatly gained upon him, who was himself of a generous
and magnificent temper, insomuch that those very actions, which were the
foundation of the accusation against him, procured him Caesar's good-will.
Accordingly, he restored him his diadem again; and encouraged him to exhibit
himself as great a friend to himself as he had been to Antony, and then
had him in great esteem. Moreover, he added this, that Quintus Didius had
written to him that Herod had very readily assisted him in the affair of
the gladiators. So when he had obtained such a kind reception, and had,
beyond all his hopes, procured his crown to be more entirely and firmly
settled upon him than ever by Caesar's donation, as well as by that decree
of the Romans, which Caesar took care to procure for his greater security,
he conducted Caesar on his way to Egypt, and made presents, even beyond
his ability, to both him and his friends, and in general behaved himself
with great magnanimity. He also desired that Caesar would not put to death
one Alexander, who had been a companion of Antony; but Caesar had sworn
to put him to death, and so he could not obtain that his petition. And
now he returned to Judea again with greater honor and assurance than ever,
and affrighted those that had expectations to the contrary, as still acquiring
from his very dangers greater splendor than before, by the favor of God
to him. So he prepared for the reception of Caesar, as he was going out
of Syria to invade Egypt; and when he came, he entertained him at Ptolemais
with all royal magnificence. He also bestowed presents on the army, and
brought them provisions in abundance. He also proved to be one of Caesar's
most cordial friends, and put the army in array, and rode along with Caesar,
and had a hundred and fifty men, well appointed in all respects, after
a rich and sumptuous manner, for the better reception of him and his friends.
He also provided them with what they should want, as they passed over the
dry desert, insomuch that they lacked neither wine nor water, which last
the soldiers stood in the greatest need of; and besides, he presented Caesar
with eight hundred talents, and procured to himself the good-will of them
all, because he was assisting to them in a much greater and more splendid
degree than the kingdom he had obtained could afford; by which means he
more and more demonstrated to Caesar the firmness of his friendship, and
his readiness to assist him; and what was of the greatest advantage to
him was this, that his liberality came at a seasonable time also. And when
they returned again out of Egypt, his assistances were no way inferior
to the good offices he had formerly done them.
CHAPTER 7.
HOW HEROD SLEW SOHEMUS AND MARIAMNE AND AFTERWARD ALEXANDRA
AND COSTOBARUS, AND HIS MOST INTIMATE FRIENDS, AND AT LAST THE SONS OF
BABBAS ALSO.
1. HOWEVER, when he came into his kingdom again, he found his house
all in disorder, and his wife Mariamne and her mother Alexandra very uneasy;
for as they supposed (what was easy to be supposed) that they were not
put into that fortress [Alexandrium] for the security of their persons,
but as into a garrison for their imprisonment, and that they had no power
over any thing, either of others or of their own affairs, they were very
uneasy; and Mariamne supposing that the king's love to her was but hypocritical,
and rather pretended (as advantageous to himself) than real, she looked
upon it as fallacious. She also was grieved that he would not allow her
any hopes of surviving him, if he should come to any harm himself. She
also recollected what commands he had formerly given to Joseph, insomuch
that she endeavored to please her keepers, and especially Sohemus, as well
apprized how all was in his power. And at the first Sohemus was faithful
to Herod, and neglected none of the things he had given him in charge;
but when the women, by kind words and liberal presents, had gained his
affections over to them, he was by degrees overcome, and at length discovered
to them all the king's injunctions, and this on that account principally,
that he did not so much as hope he would come back with the same authority
he had before; so that he thought he should both escape any danger from
him, mid supposed that he did hereby much gratify the women, who were likely
not to be overlooked in the settling of the government; nay, that they
would be able to make him abundant recompense, since they must either reign
themselves, or be very near to him that should reign. He had a further
ground of hope also, that though Herod should have all the success he could
wish for, and should return again, he could not contradict his wife in
what she desired, for he knew that the king's fondness for his wife was
inexpressible. These were the motives that drew Sohemus to discover what
injunctions had been given him. So Mariamne was greatly displeased to hear
that there was no end of the dangers she was under from Herod, and was
greatly uneasy at it, and wished that he might obtain no favors [from Caesar],
and esteemed it almost an insupportable task to live with him any longer;
and this she afterward openly declared, without concealing her resentment.
2. And now Herod sailed home with joy, at the unexpected good success
he had had; and went first of all, as was proper, to this his wife, and
told her, and her only, the good news, as preferring her before the rest,
on account of his fondness for her, and the intimacy there had been between
them, and saluted her; but so it happened, that as he told her of the good
success he had had, she was so far from rejoicing at it, that she rather
was sorry for it; nor was she able to conceal her resentments, but, depending
on her dignity, and the nobility of her birth, in return for his salutations,
she gave a groan, and declared evidently that she rather grieved than rejoiced
at his success, and this till Herod was disturbed at her, as affording
him, not only marks of her suspicion, but evident signs of her dissatisfaction.
This much troubled him, to see that this surprising hatred of his wife
to him was not concealed, but open; and he took this so ill, and yet was
so unable to bear it, on account of the fondness he had for her, that he
could not continue long in any one mind, but sometimes was angry at her,
and sometimes reconciled himself to her; but by always changing one passion
for another, he was still in great uncertainty, and thus was he entangled
between hatred and love, and was frequently disposed to inflict punishment
on her for her insolence towards him; but being deeply in love with her
in his soul, he was not able to get quit of this woman. In short, as he
would gladly have her punished, so was he afraid lest, ere he were aware,
he should, by putting her to death, bring a heavier punishment upon himself
at the same time.
3. When Herod's sister and mother perceived that he was in this temper
with regard to Mariamne they thought they had now got an excellent opportunity
to exercise their hatred against her and provoked Herod to wrath by telling
him, such long stories and calumnies about her, as might at once excite
his hatred and his jealousy. Now, though he willingly enough heard their
words, yet had not he courage enough to do any thing to her as if he believed
them; but still he became worse and worse disposed to her, and these ill
passions were more and more inflamed on both sides, while she did not hide
her disposition towards him, and he turned his love to her into wrath against
her. But when he was just going to put this matter past all remedy, he
heard the news that Caesar was the victor in the war, and that Antony and
Cleopatra were both dead, and that he had conquered Egypt; whereupon he
made haste to go to meet Caesar, and left the affairs of his family in
their present state. However, Mariamne recommended Sohemus to him, as he
was setting out on his journey, and professed that she owed him thanks
for the care he had taken of her, and asked of the king for him a place
in the government; upon which an honorable employment was bestowed upon
him accordingly. Now when Herod was come into Egypt, he was introduced
to Caesar with great freedom, as already a friend of his, and received
very great favors from him; for he made him a present of those four hundred
Galatians who had been Cleopatra's guards, and restored that country to
him again, which, by her means, had been taken away from him. He also added
to his kingdom Gadara, Hippos, and Samaria; and, besides those, the maritime
cities, Gaza, and Anthedon, and Joppa, and Strato's Tower.
4. Upon these new acquisitions, he grew more magnificent, and conducted
Caesar as far as Antioch; but upon his return, as much as his prosperity
was augmented by the foreign additions that had been made him, so much
the greater were the distresses that came upon him in his own family, and
chiefly in the affair of his wife, wherein he formerly appeared to have
been most of all fortunate; for the affection he had for Mariamne was no
way inferior to the affections of such as are on that account celebrated
in history, and this very justly. As for her, she was in other respects
a chaste woman, and faithful to him; yet had she somewhat of a woman rough
by nature, and treated her husband imperiously enough, because she saw
he was so fond of her as to be enslaved to her. She did not also consider
seasonably with herself that she lived under a monarchy, and that she was
at another's disposal, and accordingly would behave herself after a saucy
manner to him, which yet he usually put off in a jesting way, and bore
with moderation and good temper. She would also expose his mother and his
sister openly, on account of the meanness of their birth, and would speak
unkindly of them, insomuch that there was before this a disagreement and
unpardonable hatred among the women, and it was now come to greater reproaches
of one another than formerly, which suspicions increased, and lasted a
whole year after Herod returned from Caesar. However, these misfortunes,
which had been kept under some decency for a great while, burst out all
at once upon such an occasion as was now offered; for as the king was one
day about noon lain down on his bed to rest him, he called for Mariamne,
out of the great affection he had always for her. She came in accordingly,
but would not lie down by him; and when he was very desirous of her company,
she showed her contempt of him; and added, by way of reproach, that he
had caused her father and her brother to be slain. (11)
And when he took this injury very unkindly, and was ready to use violence
to her, in a precipitate manner, the king's sister Salome, observing that
he was more than ordinarily disturbed, sent in to the king his cup-bearer,
who had been prepared long beforehand for such a design, and bid him tell
the king how Mariamne had persuaded him to give his assistance in preparing
a love potion for him; and if he appeared to be greatly concerned, and
to ask what that love potion was, to tell him that she had the potion,
and that he was desired only to give it him; but that in case he did not
appear to be much concerned at this potion, to let the thing drop; and
that if he did so, no harm should thereby come to him. When she had given
him these instructions, she sent him in at this time to make such a speech.
So he went in, after a composed manner, to gain credit to what he should
say, and yet somewhat hastily, and said that Mariamne had given him presents,
and persuaded him to give him a love potion. And when this moved the king,
he said that this love potion was a composition that she had given him,
whose effects he did not know, which was the reason of his resolving to
give him this information, as the safest course he could take, both for
himself and for the king. When Herod heard what he said, and was in an
ill disposition before, his indignation grew more violent; and he ordered
that eunuch of Mariamne, who was most faithful to her, to be brought to
torture about this potion, as well knowing it was not possible that any
thing small or great could be done without him. And when the man was under
the utmost agonies, he could say nothing concerning the thing he was tortured
about, but so far he knew, that Mariamne's hatred against him was occasioned
by somewhat that Sohemus had said to her. Now as he was saying this, Herod
cried out aloud, and said that Sohemus, who had been at all other times
most faithful to him, and to his government, would not have betrayed what
injunctions he had given him, unless he had had a nearer conversation than
ordinary with Mariamne. So he gave order that Sohemus should be seized
on and slain immediately; but he allowed his wife to take her trial; and
got together those that were most faithful to him, and laid an elaborate
accusation against her for this love potion and composition, which had
been charged upon her by way of calumny only. However, he kept no temper
in what he said, and was in too great a passion for judging well about
this matter. Accordingly, when the court was at length satisfied that he
was so resolved, they passed the sentence of death upon her; but when the
sentence was passed upon her, this temper was suggested by himself, and
by some others of the court, that she should not be thus hastily put to
death, but be laid in prison in one of the fortresses belonging to the
kingdom: but Salome and her party labored hard to have the woman put to
death; and they prevailed with the king to do so, and advised this out
of caution, lest the multitude should be tumultuous if she were suffered
to live; and thus was Mariamne led to execution.
5. When Alexandra observed how things went, and that there were small
hopes that she herself should escape the like treatment from Herod, she
changed her behavior to quite the reverse of what might have been expected
from her former boldness, and this after a very indecent manner; for out
of her desire to show how entirely ignorant she was of the crimes laid
against Mariamne, she leaped out of her place, and reproached her daughter
in the hearing of all the people; and cried out that she had been an ill
woman, and ungrateful to her husband, and that her punishment came justly
upon her for such her insolent behavior, for that she had not made proper
returns to him who had been their common benefactor. And when she had for
some time acted after this hypocritical manner, and been so outrageous
as to tear her hair, this indecent and dissembling behavior, as was to
be expected, was greatly condemned by the rest of the spectators, as it
was principally by the poor woman who was to suffer; for at the first she
gave her not a word, nor was discomposed at her peevishness, and only looked
at her, yet did she out of a greatness of soul discover her concern for
her mother's offense, and especially for her exposing herself in a manner
so unbecoming her; but as for herself, she went to her death with an unshaken
firmness of mind, and without changing the color of her face, and thereby
evidently discovered the nobility of her descent to the spectators, even
in the last moments of her life.
6. And thus died Mariamne, a woman of an excellent character, both for
chastity and greatness of soul; but she wanted moderation, and had too
much of contention in her nature; yet had she all that can be said in the
beauty of her body, and her majestic appearance in conversation; and thence
arose the greatest part of the occasions why she did not prove so agreeable
to the king, nor live so pleasantly with him, as she might otherwise have
done; for while she was most indulgently used by the king, out of his fondness
for her, and did not expect that he could do any hard thing to her, she
took too unbounded a liberty. Moreover, that which most afflicted her was,
what he had done to her relations, and she ventured to speak of all they
had suffered by him, and at last greatly provoked both the king's mother
and sister, till they became enemies to her; and even he himself also did
the same, on whom alone she depended for her expectations of escaping the
last of punishments.
7. But when she was once dead, the king's affections for her were kindled
in a more outrageous manner than before, whose old passion for her we have
already described; for his love to her was not of a calm nature, nor such
as we usually meet with among other husbands; for at its commencement it
was of an enthusiastic kind, nor was it by their long cohabitation and
free conversation together brought under his power to manage; but at this
time his love to Mariamne seemed to seize him in such a peculiar manner,
as looked like Divine vengeance upon him for the taking away her life;
for he would frequently call for her, and frequently lament for her in
a most indecent manner. Moreover, he bethought him of every thing he could
make use of to divert his mind from thinking of her, and contrived feasts
and assemblies for that purpose, but nothing would suffice; he therefore
laid aside the administration of public affairs, and was so far conquered
by his passion, that he would order his servants to call for Mariamne,
as if she were still alive, and could still hear them. And when he was
in this way, there arose a pestilential disease, and carried off the greatest
part of the multitude, and of his best and most esteemed friends, and made
all men suspect that this was brought upon them by the anger of God, for
the injustice that had been done to Mariamne. This circumstance affected
the king still more, till at length he forced himself to go into desert
places, and there, under pretense of going a hunting, bitterly afflicted
himself; yet had he not borne his grief there many days before he fell
into a most dangerous distemper himself: he had an inflammation upon him,
and a pain in the hinder part of his head, joined with madness; and for
the remedies that were used, they did him no good at all, but proved contrary
to his case, and so at length brought him to despair. All the physicians
also that were about him, partly because the medicines they brought for
his recovery could not at all conquer the disease, and partly because his
diet could be no other than what his disease inclined him to, desired him
to eat whatever he had a mind to, and so left the small hopes they had
of his recovery in the power of that diet, and committed him to fortune.
And thus did his distemper go on, while he was at Samaria, now called Sebaste.
8. Now Alexandra abode at this time at Jerusalem; and being informed
what condition Herod was in, she endeavored to get possession of the fortified
places that were about the city, which were two, the one belonging to the
city itself, the other belonging to the temple; and those that could get
them into their hands had the whole nation under their power, for without
the command of them it was not possible to offer their sacrifices; and
to think of leaving on those sacrifices is to every Jew plainly impossible,
who are still more ready to lose their lives than to leave off that Divine
worship which they have been wont to pay unto God. Alexandra, therefore,
discoursed with those that had the keeping of these strong holds, that
it was proper for them to deliver the same to her, and to Herod's sons,
lest, upon his death, any other person should seize upon the government;
and that upon his recovery none could keep them more safely for him than
those of his own family. These words were not by them at all taken in good
part; and as they had been in former times faithful [to Herod], they resolved
to continue so more than ever, both because they hated Alexandra, and because
they thought it a sort of impiety to despair of Herod's recovery while
he was yet alive, for they had been his old friends; and one of them, whose
name was Achiabus, was his cousin-german. They sent messengers therefore
to acquaint him with Alexandra's design; so he made no longer delay, but
gave orders to have her slain; yet was it still with difficulty, and after
he had endured great pain, that he got clear of his distemper. He was still
sorely afflicted, both in mind and body, and made very uneasy, and readier
than ever upon all occasions to inflict punishment upon those that fell
under his hand. He also slew the most intimate of his friends, Costobarus,
and Lysimachus, and Cadias, who was also called Antipater; as also Dositheus,
and that upon the following occasion.
9. Costobarus was an Idumean by birth, and one of principal dignity
among them, and one whose ancestors had been priests to the Koze, whom
the Idumeans had [formerly] esteemed as a god; but after Hyrcanus had made
a change in their political government, and made them receive the Jewish
customs and law, Herod made Costobarus governor of Idumea and Gaza, and
gave him his sister Salome to wife; and this was upon the slaughter of
[his uncle] Joseph, who had that government before, as we have related
already. When Costobarus had gotten to be so highly advanced, it pleased
him and was more than he hoped for, and he was more and more puffed up
by his good success, and in a little while he exceeded all bounds, and
did not think fit to obey what Herod, as their ruler, commanded him, or
that the Idumeans should make use of the Jewish customs, or be subject
to them. He therefore sent to Cleopatra, and informed her that the Idumeans
had been always under his progenitors, and that for the same reason it
was but just that she should desire that country for him of Antony, for
that he was ready to transfer his friendship to her; and this he did, not
because he was better pleased to be under Cleopatra's government, but because
he thought that, upon the diminution of Herod's power, it would not be
difficult for him to obtain himself the entire government over the Idumeans,
and somewhat more also; for he raised his hopes still higher, as having
no small pretenses, both by his birth and by these riches which he had
gotten by his constant attention to filthy lucre; and accordingly it was
not a small matter that he aimed at. So Cleopatra desired this country
of Antony, but failed of her purpose. An account of this was brought to
Herod, who was thereupon ready to kill Costobarus; yet, upon the entreaties
of his sister and mother, he forgave him, and vouchsafed to pardon him
entirely; though he still had a suspicion of him afterward for this his
attempt.
10. But some time afterward, when Salome happened to quarrel with Costobarus,
she sent him a bill of divorce (12)
and dissolved her marriage with him, though this was not according to the
Jewish laws; for with us it is lawful for a husband to do so; but a wife;
if she departs from her husband, cannot of herself be married to another,
unless her former husband put her away. However, Salome chose to follow
not the law of her country, but the law of her authority, and so renounced
her wedlock; and told her brother Herod, that she left her husband out
of her good-will to him, because she perceived that he, with Antipater,
and Lysimachus, and Dositheus, were raising a sedition against him; as
an evidence whereof, she alleged the case of the sons of Babas, that they
had been by him preserved alive already for the interval of twelve years;
which proved to be true. But when Herod thus unexpectedly heard of it,
he was greatly surprised at it, and was the more surprised, because the
relation appeared incredible to him. As for the fact relating to these
sons of Babas, Herod had formerly taken great pains to bring them to punishment,
as being enemies to his government; but they were now forgotten by him,
on account of the length of time [since he had ordered them to be slain].
Now the cause of his ill-will and hatred to them arose hence, that while
Antigonus was king, Herod, with his army, besieged the city of Jerusalem,
where the distress and miseries which the besieged endured were so pressing,
that the greater number of them invited Herod into the city, and already
placed their hopes on him. Now the sons of Babas were of great dignity,
and had power among the multitude, and were faithful to Antigonus, and
were always raising calumnies against Herod, and encouraged the people
to preserve the government to that royal family which held it by inheritance.
So these men acted thus politically, and, as they thought, for their own
advantage; but when the city was taken, and Herod had gotten the government
into his hands, and Costobarus was appointed to hinder men from passing
out at the gates, and to guard the city, that those citizens that were
guilty, and of the party opposite to the king, might not get out of it,
Costobarus, being sensible that the sons of Babas were had in respect and
honor by the whole multitude, and supposing that their preservation might
be of great advantage to him in the changes of government afterward, he
set them by themselves, and concealed them in his own farms; and when the
thing was suspected, he assured Herod upon oath that he really knew nothing
of that matter, and so overcame the suspicions that lay upon him; nay,
after that, when the king had publicly proposed a reward for the discovery,
and had put in practice all sorts of methods for searching out this matter,
he would not confess it; but being persuaded that when he had at first
denied it, if the men were found, he should not escape unpunished, he was
forced to keep them secret, not only out of his good-will to them, but
out of a necessary regard to his own preservation also. But when the king
knew the thing, by his sister's information, he sent men to the places
where he had the intimation they were concealed, and ordered both them,
and those that were accused as guilty with them, to be slain, insomuch
that there were now none at all left of the kindred of Hyrcanus, and the
kingdom was entirely in Herod's own power, and there was nobody remaining
of such dignity as could put a stop to what he did against the Jewish laws.
CHAPTER 8.
HOW TEN MEN OF THE CITIZENS [OF JERUSALEM] MADE A CONSPIRACY
AGAINST HEROD, FOR THE FOREIGN PRACTICES HE HAD INTRODUCED, WHICH WAS A
TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAWS OF THEIR COUNTRY. CONCERNING THE BUILDING OF
SEBASTE AND CESAREA, AND OTHER EDIFICES OF HEROD.
1. ON this account it was that Herod revolted from the laws of his country,
and corrupted their ancient constitution, by the introduction of foreign
practices, which constitution yet ought to have been preserved inviolable;
by which means we became guilty of great wickedness afterward, while those
religious observances which used to lead the multitude to piety were now
neglected; for, in the first place, he appointed solemn games to be celebrated
every fifth year, in honor of Caesar, and built a theater at Jerusalem,
as also a very great amphitheater in the plain. Both of them were indeed
costly works, but opposite to the Jewish customs; for we have had no such
shows delivered down to us as fit to be used or exhibited by us; yet did
he celebrate these games every five years, in the most solemn and splendid
manner. He also made proclamation to the neighboring countries, and called
men together out of every nation. The wrestlers also, and the rest of those
that strove for the prizes in such games, were invited out of every land,
both by the hopes of the rewards there to be bestowed, and by the glory
of victory to be there gained. So the principal persons that were the most
eminent in these sorts of exercises were gotten together, for there were
very great rewards for victory proposed, not only to those that performed
their exercises naked, but to those that played the musicians also, and
were called Thymelici; and he spared no pains to induce all persons, the
most famous for such exercises, to come to this contest for victory. He
also proposed no small rewards to those who ran for the prizes in chariot
races, when they were drawn by two, or three, or four pair of horses. He
also imitated every thing, though never so costly or magnificent, in other
nations, out of an ambition that he might give most public demonstration
of his grandeur. Inscriptions also of the great actions of Caesar, and
trophies of those nations which he had conquered in his wars, and all made
of the purest gold and silver, encompassed the theater itself; nor was
there any thing that could be subservient to his design, whether it were
precious garments, or precious stones set in order, which was not also
exposed to sight in these games. He had also made a great preparation of
wild beasts, and of lions themselves in great abundance, and of such other
beasts as were either of uncommon strength, or of such a sort as were rarely
seen. These were prepared either to fight with one another, or that men
who were condemned to death were to fight with them. And truly foreigners
were greatly surprised and delighted at the vastness of the expenses here
exhibited, and at the great dangers that were here seen; but to natural
Jews, this was no better than a dissolution of those customs for which
they had so great a veneration. (13)
It appeared also no better than an instance of barefaced impiety, to throw
men to wild beasts, for the affording delight to the spectators; and it
appeared an instance of no less impiety, to change their own laws for such
foreign exercises: but, above all the rest, the trophies gave most distaste
to the Jews; for as they imagined them to be images, included within the
armor that hung round about them, they were sorely displeased at them,
because it was not the custom of their country to pay honors to such images.
2. Nor was Herod unacquainted with the disturbance they were under;
and as he thought it unseasonable to use violence with them, so he spake
to some of them by way of consolation, and in order to free them from that
superstitious fear they were under; yet could not he satisfy them, but
they cried out with one accord, out of their great uneasiness at the offenses
they thought he had been guilty of, that although they should think of
bearing all the rest yet would they never bear images of men in their city,
meaning the trophies, because this was disagreeable to the laws of their
country. Now when Herod saw them in such a disorder, and that they would
not easily change their resolution unless they received satisfaction in
this point, he called to him the most eminent men among them, and brought
them upon the theater, and showed them the trophies, and asked them what
sort of things they took these trophies to be; and when they cried out
that they were the images of men, he gave order that they should be stripped
of these outward ornaments which were about them, and showed them the naked
pieces of wood; which pieces of wood, now without any ornament, became
matter of great sport and laughter to them, because they had before always
had the ornaments of images themselves in derision.
3. When therefore Herod had thus got clear of the multitude, and had
dissipated the vehemency of passion under which they had been, the greatest
part of the people were disposed to change their conduct, and not to be
displeased at him any longer; but still some of them continued in their
displeasure against him, for his introduction of new customs, and esteemed
the violation of the laws of their country as likely to be the origin of
very great mischiefs to them, so that they deemed it an instance of piety
rather to hazard themselves [to be put to death], than to seem as if they
took no notice of Herod, who, upon the change he had made in their government,
introduced such customs, and that in a violent manner, which they had never
been used to before, as indeed in pretense a king, but in reality one that
showed himself an enemy to their whole nation; on which account ten men
that were citizens [of Jerusalem] conspired together against him, and sware
to one another to undergo any dangers in the attempt, and took daggers
with them under their garments [for the purpose of killing Herod]. Now
there was a certain blind man among those conspirators who had thus sworn
to one another, on account of the indignation he had against what he heard
to have been done; he was not indeed able to afford the rest any assistance
in the undertaking, but was ready to undergo any suffering with them, if
so be they should come to any harm, insomuch that he became a very great
encourager of the rest of the undertakers.
4. When they had taken this resolution, and that by common consent,
they went into the theater, hoping that, in the first place, Herod himself
could not escape them, as they should fall upon him so unexpectedly; and
supposing, however, that if they missed him, they should kill a great many
of those that were about him; and this resolution they took, though they
should die for it, in order to suggest to the king what injuries he had
done to the multitude. These conspirators, therefore, standing thus prepared
beforehand, went about their design with great alacrity; but there was
one of those spies of Herod, that were appointed for such purposes, to
fish out and inform him of any conspiracies that should be made against
him, who found out the whole affair, and told the king of it, as he was
about to go into the theater. So when he reflected on the hatred which
he knew the greatest part of the people bore him, and on the disturbances
that arose upon every occasion, he thought this plot against him not to
be improbable. Accordingly, he retired into his palace, and called those
that were accused of this conspiracy before him by their several names;
and as, upon the guards falling upon them, they were caught in the very
fact, and knew they could not escape, they prepared themselves for their
ends with all the decency they could, and so as not at all to recede from
their resolute behavior, for they showed no shame for what they were about,
nor denied it; but when they were seized, they showed their daggers, and
professed that the conspiracy they had sworn to was a holy and pious action;
that what they intended to do was not for gain, or out of any indulgence
to their passions, but principally for those common customs of their country,
which all the Jews were obliged to observe, or to die for them. This was
what these men said, out of their undaunted courage in this conspiracy.
So they were led away to execution by the king's guards that stood about
them, and patiently underwent all the torments inflicted on them till they
died. Nor was it long before that spy who had discovered them was seized
on by some of the people, out of the hatred they bore to him; and was not
only slain by them, but pulled to pieces, limb from limb, and given to
the dogs. This execution was seen by many of the citizens, yet would not
one of them discover the doers of it, till upon Herod's making a strict
scrutiny after them, by bitter and severe tortures, certain women that
were tortured confessed what they had seen done; the authors of which fact
were so terribly punished by the king, that their entire families were
destroyed for this their rash attempt; yet did not the obstinacy of the
people, and that undaunted constancy they showed in the defense of their
laws, make Herod any easier to them, but he still strengthened himself
after a more secure manner, and resolved to encompass the multitude every
way, lest such innovations should end in an open rebellion.
5. Since, therefore, he had now the city fortified by the palace in
which he lived, and by the temple which had a strong fortress by it, called
Antonia, and was rebuilt by himself, he contrived to make Samaria a fortress
for himself also against all the people, and called it Sebaste, supposing
that this place would be a strong hold against the country, not inferior
to the former. So he fortified that place, which was a day's journey distant
from Jerusalem, and which would be useful to him in common, to keep both
the country and the city in awe. He also built another fortress for the
whole nation; it was of old called Strato's Tower, but was by him named
Cesarea. Moreover, he chose out some select horsemen, and placed them ill
the great plain; and built [for them] a place in Galilee, called Gaba with
Hesebonitis, in Perea. And these were the places which he particularly
built, while he always was inventing somewhat further for his own security,
and encompassing the whole nation with guards, that they might by no means
get from under his power, nor fall into tumults, which they did continually
upon any small commotion; and that if they did make any commotions, he
might know of it, while some of his spies might be upon them from the neighborhood,
and might both be able to know what they were attempting, and to prevent
it. And when he went about building the wall of Samaria, he contrived to
bring thither many of those that had been assisting to him in his wars,
and many of the people in that neighborhood also, whom he made fellow citizens
with the rest. This he did out of an ambitious desire of building a temple,
and out of a desire to make the city more eminent than it had been before;
but principally because he contrived that it might at once be for his own
security, and a monument of his magnificence. He also changed its name,
and called it Sebaste. Moreover, he parted the adjoining country, which
was excellent in its kind, among the inhabitants of Samaria, that they
might be in a happy condition, upon their first coming to inhabit. Besides
all which, he encompassed the city with a wall of great strength, and made
use of the acclivity of the place for making its fortifications stronger;
nor was the compass of the place made now so small as it had been before,
but was such as rendered it not inferior to the most famous cities; for
it was twenty furlongs in circumference. Now within, and about the middle
of it, he built a sacred place, of a furlong and a half [in circuit], and
adorned it with all sorts of decorations, and therein erected a temple,
which was illustrious on account of both its largeness and beauty. And
as to the several parts of the city, he adorned them with decorations of
all sorts also; and as to what was necessary to provide for his own security,
he made the walls very strong for that purpose, and made it for the greatest
part a citadel; and as to the elegance of the building, it was taken care
of also, that he might leave monuments of the fineness of his taste, and
of his beneficence, to future ages.
CHAPTER 9.
CONCERNING THE FAMINE THAT HAPPENED IN JUDEA AND SYRIA; AND
HOW HEROD, AFTER HE HAD MARRIED ANOTHER WIFE, REBUILT CESAREA, AND OTHER
GRECIAN CITIES.
1. NOW on this very year, which was the thirteenth year of the reign
of Herod, very great calamities came upon the country; whether they were
derived from the anger of God, or whether this misery returns again naturally
in certain periods of time (14)
for, in the first place, there were perpetual droughts, and for that reason
the ground was barren, and did not bring forth the same quantity of fruits
that it used to produce; and after this barrenness of the soil, that change
of food which the want of corn occasioned produced distempers in the bodies
of men, and a pestilential disease prevailed, one misery following upon
the back of another; and these circumstances, that they were destitute
both of methods of cure and of food, made the pestilential distemper, which
began after a violent manner, the more lasting. The destruction of men
also after such a manner deprived those that surived of all their courage,
because they had no way to provide remedies sufficient for the distresses
they were in. When therefore the fruits of that year were spoiled, and
whatsoever they had laid up beforehand was spent, there was no foundation
of hope for relief remaining, but the misery, contrary to what they expected
still increased upon them; and this not only on that year, while they had
nothing for themselves left [at the end of it], but what seed they had
sown perished also, by reason of the ground not yielding its fruits on
the second year. (15)
This distress they were in made them also, out of necessity, to eat many
things that did not use to be eaten; nor was the king himself free from
this distress any more than other men, as being deprived of that tribute
he used to have from the fruits of the ground, and having already expended
what money he had, in his liberality to those whose cities he had built;
nor had he any people that were worthy of his assistance, since this miserable
state of things had procured him the hatred of his subjects: for it is
a constant rule, that misfortunes are still laid to the account of those
that govern.
2. In these circumstances he considered with himself how to procure
some seasonable help; but this was a hard thing to be done, while their
neighbors had no food to sell them; and their money also was gone, had
it been possible to purchase a little food at a great price. However, he
thought it his best way, by all means, not to leave off his endeavors to
assist his people; so he cut off the rich furniture that was in his palace,
both of silver and gold, insomuch that he did not spare the finest vessels
he had, or those that were made with the most elaborate skill of the artificers,
but sent the money to Petronius, who had been made prefect of Egypt by
Caesar; and as not a few had already fled to him under their necessities,
and as he was particularly a friend to Herod, and desirous to have his
subjects preserved, he gave leave to them in the first place to export
corn, and assisted them every way, both in purchasing and exporting the
same; so that he was the principal, if not the only person, who afforded
them what help they had. And Herod taking care the people should understand
that this help came from himself, did thereby not only remove the ill opinion
of those that formerly hated him, but gave them the greatest demonstration
possible of his good-will to them, and care of them; for, in the first
place, as for those who were able to provide their own food, he distributed
to them their proportion of corn in the exactest manner; but for those
many that were not able, either by reason of their old age, or any other
infirmity, to provide food for themselves, he made this provision for them,
the bakers should make their bread ready for them. He also took care that
they might not be hurt by the dangers of winter, since they were in great
want of clothing also, by reason of the utter destruction and consumption
of their sheep and goats, till they had no wool to make use of, nor any
thing else to cover themselves withal. And when he had procured these things
for his own subjects, he went further, in order to provide necessaries
for their neighbors, and gave seed to the Syrians, which thing turned greatly
to his own advantage also, this charitable assistance being afforded most
seasonably to their fruitful soil, so that every one had now a plentiful
provision of food. Upon the whole, when the harvest of the land was approaching,
he sent no fewer than fifty thousand men, whom he had sustained, into the
country; by which means he both repaired the afflicted condition of his
own kingdom with great generosity and diligence, and lightened the afflictions
of his neighbors, who were under the same calamities; for there was nobody
who had been in want that was left destitute of a suitable assistance by
him; nay, further, there were neither any people, nor any cities, nor any
private men, who were to make provision for the multitudes, and on that
account were in want of support, and had recourse to him, but received
what they stood in need of, insomuch that it appeared, upon a computation,
that the number of cori of wheat, of ten attic medimni apiece, that were
given to foreigners, amounted to ten thousand, and the number that was
given in his own kingdom was about fourscore thousand. Now it happened
that this care of his, and this seasonable benefaction, had such influence
on the Jews, and was so cried up among other nations, as to wipe off that
old hatred which his violation of some of their customs, during his reign,
had procured him among all the nation, and that this liberality of his
assistance in this their greatest necessity was full satisfaction for all
that he had done of that nature, as it also procured him great fame among
foreigners; and it looked as if these calamities that afflicted his land,
to a degree plainly incredible, came in order to raise his glory, and to
be to his great advantage; for the greatness of his liberality in these
distresses, which he now demonstrated beyond all expectation, did so change
the disposition of the multitude towards him, that they were ready to suppose
he had been from the beginning not such a one as they had found him to
be by experience, but such a one as the care he had taken of them in supplying
their necessities proved him now to be.
3. About this time it was that he sent five hundred chosen men out of
the guards of his body as auxiliaries to Caesar, whom Aelius Gallus (16)
led to the Red Sea, and who were of great service to him there. When therefore
his affairs were thus improved, and were again in a flourishing condition,
he built himself a palace in the upper city, raising the rooms to a very
great height, and adorning them with the most costly furniture of gold,
and marble scats, and beds; and these were so large that they could contain
very many companies of men. These apartments were also of distinct magnitudes,
and had particular names given them; for one apartment was called Caesar's,
another Agrippa's. He also fell in love again, and married another wife,
not suffering his reason to hinder him from living as he pleased. The occasion
of this his marriage was as follows: There was one Simon, a citizen of
Jerusalem, the son of one Boethus, a citizen of Alexandria, and a priest
of great note there; this man had a daughter, who was esteemed the most
beautiful woman of that time; and when the people of Jerusalem began to
speak much in her commendation, it happened that Herod was much affected
with what was said of her; and when he saw the damsel, he was smitten with
her beauty, yet did he entirely reject the thoughts of using his authority
to abuse her, as believing, what was the truth, that by so doing he should
be stigmatized for violence and tyranny; so he thought it best to take
the damsel to wife. And while Simon was of a dignity too inferior to be
allied to him, but still too considerable to be despised, he governed his
inclinations after the most prudent manner, by augmenting the dignity of
the family, and making them more honorable; so he immediately deprived
Jesus, the son of Phabet, of the high priesthood, and conferred that dignity
on Simon, and so joined in affinity with him [by marrying his daughter].
4. When this wedding was over, he built another citadel in that place
where he had conquered file Jews when he was driven out of his government,
and Antigonus enjoyed it. This citadel is distant from Jerusalem about
threescore furlongs. It was strong by nature, and fit for such a building.
It is a sort of a moderate hill, raised to a further height by the hand
of man, till it was of the shape of a woman's breast. It is encompassed
with circular towers, and hath a strait ascent up to it, which ascent is
composed of steps of polished stones, in number two hundred. Within it
are royal and very rich apartments, of a structure that provided both for
security and for beauty. About the bottom there are habitations of such
a structure as are well worth seeing, both on other accounts, and also
on account of the water which is brought thither from a great way off,
and at vast expenses, for the place itself is destitute of water. The plain
that is about this citadel is full of edifices, not inferior to any city
in largeness, and having the hill above it in the nature of a castle.
5. And now, when all Herod's designs had succeeded according to his
hopes, he had not the least suspicion that any troubles could arise in
his kingdom, because he kept his people obedient, as well by the fear they
stood in of him, for he was implacable in the infliction of his punishments,
as by the provident care he had showed towards them, after the most magnanimous
manner, when they were under their distresses. But still he took care to
have external security for his government as a fortress against his subjects;
for the orations he made to the cities were very fine, and full of kindness;
and he cultivated a seasonable good understanding with their governors,
and bestowed presents on every one of them, inducing them thereby to be
more friendly to him, and using his magnificent disposition so as his kingdom
might be the better secured to him, and this till all his affairs were
every way more and more augmented. But then this magnificent temper of
his, and that submissive behavior and liberality which he exercised towards
Caesar, and the most powerful men of Rome, obliged him to transgress the
customs of his nation, and to set aside many of their laws, and by building
cities after an extravagant manner, and erecting temples, - not in Judea
indeed, for that would not have been borne, it being forbidden for us to
pay any honor to images, or representations of animals, after the manner
of the Greeks; but still he did thus in the country [properly] out of our
bounds, and in the cities thereof (17)
The apology which he made to the Jews for these things was this: That all
was done, not out of his own inclinations, but by the commands and injunctions
of others, in order to please Caesar and the Romans, as though he had not
the Jewish customs so much in his eye as he had the honor of those Romans,
while yet he had himself entirely in view all the while, and indeed was
very ambitious to leave great monuments of his government to posterity;
whence it was that he was so zealous in building such fine cities, and
spent such vast sums of money upon them.
6. Now upon his observation of a place near the sea, which was very
proper for containing a city, and was before called Strato's Tower, he
set about getting a plan for a magnificent city there, and erected many
edifices with great diligence all over it, and this of white stone. He
also adorned it with most sumptuous palaces and large edifices for containing
the people; and what was the greatest and most laborious work of all, he
adorned it with a haven, that was always free from the waves of the sea.
Its largeness was not less than the Pyrmum [at Athens], and had towards
the city a double station for the ships. It was of excellent workmanship;
and this was the more remarkable for its being built in a place that of
itself was not suitable to such noble structures, but was to be brought
to perfection by materials from other places, and at very great expenses.
This city is situate in Phoenicia, in the passage by sea to Egypt, between
Joppa and Dora, which are lesser maritime cities, and not fit for havens,
on account of the impetuous south winds that beat upon them, which rolling
the sands that come from the sea against the shores, do not admit of ships
lying in their station; but the merchants are generally there forced to
ride at their anchors in the sea itself. So Herod endeavored to rectify
this inconvenience, and laid out such a compass towards the land as might
be sufficient for a haven, wherein the great ships might lie in safety;
and this he effected by letting down vast stones of above fifty feet in
length, not less than eighteen in breadth, and nine in depth, into twenty
fathom deep; and as some were lesser, so were others bigger than those
dimensions. This mole which he built by the sea-side was two hundred feet
wide, the half of which was opposed to the current of the waves, so as
to keep off those waves which were to break upon them, and so was called
Procymatia, or the first breaker of the waves; but the other half had upon
it a wall, with several towers, the largest of which was named Drusus,
and was a work of very great excellence, and had its name from Drusus,
the son-in-law of Caesar, who died young. There were also a great number
of arches where the mariners dwelt. There was also before them a quay,
[or landing place,] which ran round the entire haven, and was a most agreeable
walk to such as had a mind to that exercise; but the entrance or mouth
of the port was made on the north quarter, on which side was the stillest
of the winds of all in this place: and the basis of the whole circuit on
the left hand, as you enter the port, supported a round turret, which was
made very strong, in order to resist the greatest waves; while on the right
hand, as you enter, stood two vast stones, and those each of them larger
than the turret, which were over against them; these stood upright, and
were joined together. Now there were edifices all along the circular haven,
made of the politest stone, with a certain elevation, whereon was erected
a temple, that was seen a great way off by those that were sailing for
that haven, and had in it two statues, the one of Rome, the other of Caesar.
The city itself was called Cesarea, which was also itself built of fine
materials, and was of a fine structure; nay, the very subterranean vaults
and cellars had no less of architecture bestowed on them than had the buildings
above ground. Some of these vaults carried things at even distances to
the haven and to the sea; but one of them ran obliquely, and bound all
the rest together, that both the rain and the filth of the citizens were
together carried off with ease, and the sea itself, upon the flux of the
tide from without, came into the city, and washed it all clean. Herod also
built therein a theater of stone; and on the south quarter, behind the
port, an amphitheater also, capable of holding a vast number of men, and
conveniently situated for a prospect to the sea. So this city was thus
finished in twelve years; (18)
during which time the king did not fail to go on both with the work, and
to pay the charges that were necessary.
CHAPTER 10.
HOW HEROD SENT HIS SONS TO ROME; HOW ALSO HE WAS ACCUSED
BY ZENODORUS AND THE GADARENS, BUT WAS CLEARED OF WHAT THEY ACCUSED HIM
OF AND WITHAL GAINED TO HIMSELF THE GOOD-WILL OF CAESAR. CONCERNING THE
PHARISEES, THE ESSENS AND MANAHEM.
1. WHEN Herod was engaged in such matters, and when he had already re-edified
Sebaste, [Samaria,] he resolved to send his sons Alexander and Aristobulus
to Rome, to enjoy the company of Caesar; who, when they came thither, lodged
at the house of Pollio, (19)
who was very fond of Herod's friendship; and they had leave to lodge in
Caesar's own palace, for he received these sons of Herod with all humanity,
and gave Herod leave to give his, kingdom to which of his sons he pleased;
and besides all this, he bestowed on him Trachon, and Batanea, and Auranitis,
which he gave him on the occasion following: One Zenodorus (20)
had hired what was called the house of Lysanias, who, as he was not satisfied
with its revenues, became a partner with the robbers that inhabited the
Trachonites, and so procured himself a larger income; for the inhabitants
of those places lived in a mad way, and pillaged the country of the Damascenes,
while Zenodorus did not restrain them, but partook of the prey they acquired.
Now as the neighboring people were hereby great. sufferers, they complained
to Varro, who was then president [of Syria], and entreated him to write
to Caesar about this injustice of Zenodorus. When these matters were laid
before Caesar, he wrote back to Varro to destroy those nests of robbers,
and to give the land to Herod, that so by his care the neighboring countries
might be no longer disturbed with these doings of the Trachonites; for
it was not an easy firing to restrain them, since this way of robbery had
been their usual practice, and they had no other way to get their living,
because they had neither any city of their own, nor lands in their possession,
but only some receptacles and dens in the earth, and there they and their
cattle lived in common together. However, they had made contrivances to
get pools of water, and laid up corn in granaries for themselves, and were
able to make great resistance, by issuing out on the sudden against any
that attacked them; for the entrances of their caves were narrow, in which
but one could come in at a time, and the places within incredibly large,
and made very wide but the ground over their habitations was not very high,
but rather on a plain, while the rocks are altogether hard and difficult
to be entered upon, unless any one gets into the plain road by the guidance
of another, for these roads are not straight, but have several revolutions.
But when these men are hindered from their wicked preying upon their neighbors,
their custom is to prey one upon another, insomuch that no sort of injustice
comes amiss to them. But when Herod had received this grant from Caesar,
and was come into this country, he procured skillful guides, and put a
stop to their wicked robberies, and procured peace and quietness to the
neighboring people.
2. Hereupon Zenodorus was grieved, in the first place, because his principality
was taken away from him; and still more so, because he envied Herod, who
had gotten it; So he went up to Rome to accuse him, but returned back again
without success. Now Agrippa was [about this time] sent to succeed Caesar
in the government of the countries beyond the Ionian Sea, upon whom Herod
lighted when he was wintering about Mitylene, for he had been his particular
friend and companion, and then returned into Judea again. However, some
of the Gadarens came to Agrippa, and accused Herod, whom he sent back bound
to the king without giving them the hearing. But still the Arabians, who
of old bare ill-will to Herod's government, were nettled, and at that time
attempted to raise a sedition in his dominions, and, as they thought, upon
a more justifiable occasion; for Zenodorus, despairing already of success
as to his own affairs, prevented [his enemies], by selling to those Arabians
a part of his principality, called Auranitis, for the value of fifty talents;
but as this was included in the donations of Caesar, they contested the
point with Herod, as unjustly deprived of what they had bought. Sometimes
they did this by making incursions upon him, and sometimes by attempting
force against him, and sometimes by going to law with him. Moreover, they
persuaded the poorer soldiers to help them, and were troublesome to him,
out of a constant hope that they should reduce the people to raise a sedition;
in which designs those that are in the most miserable circumstances of
life are still the most earnest; and although Herod had been a great while
apprized of these attempts, yet did not he indulge any severity to them,
but by rational methods aimed to mitigate things, as not willing to give
any handle for tumults.
3. Now when Herod had already reigned seventeen years, Caesar came into
Syria; at which time the greatest part of the inhabitants of Gadara clamored
against Herod, as one that was heavy in his injunctions, and tyrannical.
These reproaches they mainly ventured upon by the encouragement of Zenodorus,
who took his oath that he would never leave Herod till he had procured
that they should be severed from Herod's kingdom, and joined to Caesar's
province. The Gadarens were induced hereby, and made no small cry against
him, and that the more boldly, because those that had been delivered up
by Agrippa were not punished by Herod, who let them go, and did them no
harm; for indeed he was the principal man in the world who appeared almost
inexorable in punishing crimes in his own family, but very generous in
remitting the offenses that were committed elsewhere. And while they accused
Herod of injuries, and plunderings, and subversions of temples, he stood
unconcerned, and was ready to make his defense. However, Caesar gave him
his right hand, and remitted nothing of his kindness to him, upon this
disturbance by the multitude; and indeed these things were alleged the
first day, but the hearing proceeded no further; for as the Gadarens saw
the inclination of Caesar and of his assessors, and expected, as they had
reason to do, that they should be delivered up to the king, some of them,
out of a dread of the torments they might undergo, cut their own throats
in the night time, and some of them threw themselves down precipices, and
others of them cast themselves into the river, and destroyed themselves
of their own accord; which accidents seemed a sufficient condemnation of
the rashness and crimes they had been guilty of; whereupon Caesar made
no longer delay, but cleared Herod from the crimes he was accused of. Another
happy accident there was, which was a further great advantage to Herod
at this time; for Zenodorus's belly burst, and a great quantity of blood
issued from him in his sickness, and he thereby departed this life at Antioch
in Syria; so Caesar bestowed his country, which was no small one, upon
Herod; it lay between Trachon and Galilee, and contained Ulatha, and Paneas,
and the country round about. He also made him one of the procurators of
Syria, and commanded that they should do every thing with his approbation;
and, in short, he arrived at that pitch of felicity, that whereas there
were but two men that governed the vast Roman empire, first Caesar, and
then Agrippa, who was his principal favorite, Caesar preferred no one to
Herod besides Agrippa, and Agrippa made no one his greater friend than
Herod besides Caesar. And when he had acquired such freedom, he begged
of Caesar a tetrarchy (21)
for his brother Pheroras, while he did himself bestow upon him a revenue
of a hundred talents out of his own kingdom, that in case he came to any
harm himself, his brother might be in safety, and that his sons might not
have dominion over him. So when he had conducted Caesar to the sea, and
was returned home, he built him a most beautiful temple, of the whitest
stone, in Zenodorus's country, near the place called Panlure. This is a
very fine cave in a mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the
earth, and the cavern is abrupt, and prodigiously deep, and frill of a
still water; over it hangs a vast mountain; and under the caverns arise
the springs of the river Jordan. Herod adorned this place, which was already
a very remarkable one, still further by the erection of this temple, which
he dedicated to Caesar.
4. At which time Herod released to his subjects the third part of their
taxes, under pretense indeed of relieving them, after the dearth they had
had; but the main reason was, to recover their good-will, which he now
wanted; for they were uneasy at him, because of the innovations he had
introduced in their practices, of the dissolution of their religion, and
of the disuse of their own customs; and the people every where talked against
him, like those that were still more provoked and disturbed at his procedure;
against which discontents he greatly guarded himself, and took away the
opportunities they might have to disturb him, and enjoined them to be always
at work; nor did he permit the citizens either to meet together, or to
walk or eat together, but watched every thing they did, and when any were
caught, they were severely punished; and many there were who were brought
to the citadel Hyrcania, both openly and secretly, and were there put to
death; and there were spies set every where, both in the city and in the
roads, who watched those that met together; nay, it is reported that he
did not himself neglect this part of caution, but that he would oftentimes
himself take the habit of a private man, and mix among the multitude, in
the night time, and make trial what opinion they had of his government:
and as for those that could no way be reduced to acquiesce under his scheme
of government, he prosecuted them all manner of ways; but for the rest
of the multitude, he required that they should be obliged to take an oath
of fidelity to him, and at the same time compelled them to swear that they
would bear him good-will, and continue certainly so to do, in his management
of the government; and indeed a great part of them, either to please him,
or out of fear of him, yielded to what he required of them; but for such
as were of a more open and generous disposition, and had indignation at
the force he used to them, he by one means or other made away, with them.
He endeavored also to persuade Pollio the Pharisee, and Satneas, and the
greatest part of their scholars, to take the oath; but these would neither
submit so to do, nor were they punished together with the rest, out of
the reverence he bore to Pollio. The Essens also, as we call a sect of
ours, were excused from this imposition. These men live the same kind of
life as do those whom the Greeks call Pythagoreans, concerning whom I shall
discourse more fully elsewhere. However, it is but fit to set down here
the reasons wherefore Herod had these Essens in such honor, and thought
higher of them than their mortal nature required; nor will this account
be unsuitable to the nature of this history, as it will show the opinion
men had of these Essens.
5. Now there was one of these Essens, whose name was Manahem, who had
this testimony, that he not only conducted his life after an excellent
manner, but had the foreknowledge of future events given him by God also.
This man once saw Herod when he was a child, and going to school, and saluted
him as king of the Jews; but he, thinking that either he did not know him,
or that he was in jest, put him in mind that he was but a private man;
but Manahem smiled to himself, and clapped him on his backside with his
hand, and said," However that be, thou wilt be king, and wilt begin
thy reign happily, for God finds thee worthy of it. And do thou remember
the blows that Manahem hath given thee, as being a signal of the change
of thy fortune. And truly this will be the best reasoning for thee, that
thou love justice [towards men], and piety towards God, and clemency towards
thy citizens; yet do I know how thy whole conduct will be, that thou wilt
not be such a one, for thou wilt excel all men in happiness, and obtain
an everlasting reputation, but wilt forget piety and righteousness; and
these crimes will not be concealed from God, at the conclusion of thy life,
when thou wilt find that he will be mindful of them, and punish time for
them." Now at that time Herod did not at all attend to what Manahem
said, as having no hopes of such advancement; but a little afterward, when
he was so fortunate as to be advanced to the dignity of king, and was in
the height of his dominion, he sent for Manahem, and asked him how long
he should reign. Manahem did not tell him the full length of his reign;
wherefore, upon that silence of his, he asked him further, whether he should
reign ten years or not? He replied, "Yes, twenty, nay, thirty years;"
but did not assign the just determinate limit of his reign. Herod was satisfied
with these replies, and gave Manahem his hand, and dismissed him; and from
that time he continued to honor all the Essens. We have thought it proper
to relate these facts to our readers, how strange soever they be, and to
declare what hath happened among us, because many of these Essens have,
by their excellent virtue, been thought worthy of this knowledge of Divine
revelations.
CHAPTER 11.
HOW HEROD REBUILT THE TEMPLE AND RAISED IT HIGHER AND MADE
IT MORE MAGNIFICENT THAN IT WAS BEFORE; AS ALSO CONCERNING THAT TOWER WHICH
HE CALLED ANTONIA.
1. AND now Herod, in the eighteenth year of his reign, and after the
acts already mentioned, undertook a very great work, that is, to build
of himself the temple of God, (22)
and make it larger in compass, and to raise it to a most magnificent altitude,
as esteeming it to be the most glorious of all his actions, as it really
was, to bring it to perfection; and that this would be sufficient for an
everlasting memorial of him; but as he knew the multitude were not ready
nor willing to assist him in so vast a design, he thought to prepare them
first by making a speech to them, and then set about the work itself; so
he called them together, and spake thus to them: "I think I need not
speak to you, my countrymen, about such other works as I have done since
I came to the kingdom, although I may say they have been performed in such
a manner as to bring more security to you than glory to myself; for I have
neither been negligent in the most difficult times about what tended to
ease your necessities, nor have the buildings. I have made been so proper
to preserve me as yourselves from injuries; and I imagine that, with God's
assistance, I have advanced the nation of the Jews to a degree of happiness
which they never had before; and for the particular edifices belonging
to your own country, and your own cities, as also to those cities that
we have lately acquired, which we have erected and greatly adorned, and
thereby augmented the dignity of your nation, it seems to me a needless
task to enumerate them to you, since you well know them yourselves; but
as to that undertaking which I have a mind to set about at present, and
which will be a work of the greatest piety and excellence that can possibly
be undertaken by us, I will now declare it to you. Our fathers, indeed,
when they were returned from Babylon, built this temple to God Almighty,
yet does it want sixty cubits of its largeness in altitude; for so much
did that first temple which Solomon built exceed this temple; nor let any
one condemn our fathers for their negligence or want of piety herein, for
it was not their fault that the temple was no higher; for they were Cyrus,
and Darius the son of Hystaspes, who determined the measures for its rebuilding;
and it hath been by reason of the subjection of those fathers of ours to
them and to their posterity, and after them to the Macedonians, that they
had not the opportunity to follow the original model of this pious edifice,
nor could raise it to its ancient altitude; but since I am now, by God's
will, your governor, and I have had peace a long time, and have gained
great riches and large revenues, and, what is the principal filing of all,
I am at amity with and well regarded by the Romans, who, if I may so say,
are the rulers of the whole world, I will do my endeavor to correct that
imperfection, which hath arisen from the necessity of our affairs, and
the slavery we have been under formerly, and to make a thankful return,
after the most pious manner, to God, for what blessings I have received
from him, by giving me this kingdom, and that by rendering his temple as
complete as I am able."
2. And this was the speech which Herod made to them; but still this
speech aftrighted many of the people, as being unexpected by them; and
because it seemed incredible, it did not encourage them, but put a damp
upon them, for they were afraid that he would pull down the whole edifice,
and not be able to bring his intentions to perfection for its rebuilding;
and this danger appeared to them to be very great, and the vastness of
the undertaking to be such as could hardly be accomplished. But while they
were in this disposition, the king encouraged them, and told them he would
not pull down their temple till all things were gotten ready for building
it up entirely again. And as he promised them this beforehand, so he did
not break his word with them, but got ready a thousand waggons, that were
to bring stones for the building, and chose out ten thousand of the most
skillful workmen, and bought a thousand sacerdotal garments for as many
of the priests, and had some of them taught the arts of stone-cutters,
and others of carpenters, and then began to build; but this not till every
thing was well prepared for the work.
3. So Herod took away the old foundations, and laid others, and erected
the temple upon them, being in length a hundred cubits, and in height twenty
additional cubits, which [twenty], upon the sinking of their foundations
(23)
fell down; and this part it was that we resolved to raise again in the
days of Nero. Now the temple was built of stones that were white and strong,
and each of their length was twenty-five cubits, their height was eight,
and their breadth about twelve; and the whole structure, as also the structure
of the royal cloister, was on each side much lower, but the middle was
much higher, till they were visible to those that dwelt in the country
for a great many furlongs, but chiefly to such as lived over against them,
and those that approached to them. The temple had doors also at the entrance,
and lintels over them, of the same height with the temple itself. They
were adorned with embroidered veils, with their flowers of purple, and
pillars interwoven; and over these, but under the crown-work, was spread
out a golden vine, with its branches hanging down from a great height,
the largeness and fine workmanship of which was a surprising sight to the
spectators, to see what vast materials there were, and with what great
skill the workmanship was done. He also encompassed the entire temple with
very large cloisters, contriving them to be in a due proportion thereto;
and he laid out larger sums of money upon them than had been done before
him, till it seemed that no one else had so greatly adorned the temple
as he had done. There was a large wall to both the cloisters, which wall
was itself the most prodigious work that was ever heard of by man. The
hill was a rocky ascent, that declined by degrees towards the east parts
of the city, till it came to an elevated level. This hill it was which
Solomon, who was the first of our kings, by Divine revelation, encompassed
with a wall; it was of excellent workmanship upwards, and round the top
of it. He also built a wall below, beginning at the bottom, which was encompassed
by a deep valley; and at the south side he laid rocks together, and bound
them one to another with lead, and included some of the inner parts, till
it proceeded to a great height, and till both the largeness of the square
edifice and its altitude were immense, and till the vastness of the stones
in the front were plainly visible on the outside, yet so that the inward
parts were fastened together with iron, and preserved the joints immovable
for all future times. When this work [for the foundation] was done in this
manner, and joined together as part of the hill itself to the very top
of it, he wrought it all into one outward surface, and filled up the hollow
places which were about the wall, and made it a level on the external upper
surface, and a smooth level also. This hill was walled all round, and in
compass four furlongs, [the distance of] each angle containing in length
a furlong: but within this wall, and on the very top of all, there ran
another wall of stone also, having, on the east quarter, a double cloister,
of the same length with the wall; in the midst of which was the temple
itself. This cloister looked to the gates of the temple; and it had been
adorned by many kings in former times; and round about the entire temple
were fixed the spoils taken from barbarous nations; all these had been
dedicated to the temple by Herod, with the addition of those he had taken
from the Arabians.
4. Now on the north side [of the temple] was built a citadel, whose
walls were square, and strong, and of extraordinary firmness. This citadel
was built by the kings of the Asamonean race, who were also high priests
before Herod, and they called it the Tower, in which were reposited the
vestments of the high priest, which the high priest only put on at the
time when he was to offer sacrifice. These vestments king Herod kept in
that place; and after his death they were under the power of the Romans,
until the time of Tiberius Caesar; under whose reign Vitellius, the president
of Syria, when he once came to Jerusalem, and had been most magnificently
received by the multitude, he had a mind to make them some requital for
the kindness they had shewn him; so, upon their petition to have those
holy vestments in their own power, he wrote about them to Tiberius Caesar,
who granted his request: and this their power over the sacerdotal vestments
continued with the Jews till the death of king Agrippa; but after that,
Cassius Longinus, who was president of Syria, and Cuspius Fadus, who was
procurator of Judea, enjoined the Jews to reposit those vestments in the
tower of Antonia, for that they ought to have them in their power, as they
formerly had. However, the Jews sent ambassadors to Claudius Caesar, to
intercede with him for them; upon whose coming, king Agrippa, junior, being
then at Rome, asked for and obtained the power over them from the emperor,
who gave command to Vitellius, who was then commander in Syria, to give
it them accordingly. Before that time they were kept under the seal of
the high priest, and of the treasurers of the temple; which treasurers,
the day before a festival, went up to the Roman captain of the temple guards,
and viewed their own seal, and received the vestments; and again, when
the festival was over, they brought it to the same place, and showed the
captain of the temple guards their seal, which corresponded with his seal,
and reposited them there. And that these things were so, the afflictions
that happened to us afterwards [about them] are sufficient evidence. But
for the tower itself, when Herod the king of the Jews had fortified it
more firmly than before, in order to secure and guard the temple, he gratified
Antonius, who was his friend, and the Roman ruler, and then gave it the
name of the Tower of Antonia.
5. Now in the western quarters of the enclosure of the temple there
were four gates; the first led to the king's palace, and went to a passage
over the intermediate valley; two more led to the suburbs of the city;
and the last led to the other city, where the road descended down into
the valley by a great number of steps, and thence up again by the ascent
for the city lay over against the temple in the manner of a theater, and
was encompassed with a deep valley along the entire south quarter; but
the fourth front of the temple, which was southward, had indeed itself
gates in its middle, as also it had the royal cloisters, with three walks,
which reached in length from the east valley unto that on the west, for
it was impossible it should reach any farther: and this cloister deserves
to be mentioned better than any other under the sun; for while the valley
was very deep, and its bottom could not be seen, if you looked from above
into the depth, this further vastly high elevation of the cloister stood
upon that height, insomuch that if any one looked down from the top of
the battlements, or down both those altitudes, he would be giddy, while
his sight could not reach to such an immense depth. This cloister had pillars
that stood in four rows one over against the other all along, for the fourth
row was interwoven into the wall, which [also was built of stone]; and
the thickness of each pillar was such, that three men might, with their
arms extended, fathom it round, and join their hands again, while its length
was twenty-seven feet, with a double spiral at its basis; and the number
of all the pillars [in that court] was a hundred and sixty-two. Their chapiters
were made with sculptures after the Corinthian order, and caused an amazement
[to the spectators], by reason of the grandeur of the whole. These four
rows of pillars included three intervals for walking in the middle of this
cloister; two of which walks were made parallel to each other, and were
contrived after the same manner; the breadth of each of them was thirty
feet, the length was a furlong, and the height fifty feet; but the breadth
of the middle part of the cloister was one and a half of the other, and
the height was double, for it was much higher than those on each side;
but the roofs were adorned with deep sculptures in wood, representing many
sorts of figures. The middle was much higher than the rest, and the wall
of the front was adorned with beams, resting upon pillars, that were interwoven
into it, and that front was all of polished stone, insomuch that its fineness,
to such as had not seen it, was incredible, and to such as had seen it,
was greatly amazing. Thus was the first enclosure. In the midst of which,
and not far from it, was the second, to be gone up to by a few steps: this
was encompassed by a stone wall for a partition, with an inscription, which
forbade any foreigner to go in under pain of death. Now this inner enclosure
had on its southern and northern quarters three gates [equally] distant
one from another; but on the east quarter, towards the sun-rising, there
was one large gate, through which such as were pure came in, together with
their wives; but the temple further inward in that gate was not allowed
to the women; but still more inward was there a third [court of the] temple,
whereinto it was not lawful for any but the priests alone to enter. The
temple itself was within this; and before that temple was the altar, upon
which we offer our sacrifices and burnt-offerings to God. Into none of
these three did king Herod enter, (24)
for he was forbidden, because he was not a priest. However, he took care
of the cloisters and the outer enclosures, and these he built in eight
years.
6. But the temple itself was built by the priests in a year and six
months; upon which all the people were full of joy; and presently they
returned thanks, in the first place, to God; and in the next place, for
the alacrity the king had showed. They feasted and celebrated this rebuilding
of the temple: and for the king, he sacrificed three hundred oxen to God,
as did the rest every one according to his ability; the number of which
sacrifices is not possible to set down, for it cannot be that we should
truly relate it; for at the same time with this celebration for the work
about the temple fell also the day of the king's inauguration, which he
kept of an old custom as a festival, and it now coincided with the other,
which coincidence of them both made the festival most illustrious.
7. There was also an occult passage built for the king; it led from
Antonia to the inner temple, at its eastern gate; over which he also erected
for himself a tower, that he might have the opportunity of a subterraneous
ascent to the temple, in order to guard against any sedition which might
be made by the people against their kings. It is also reported, (25)
that during the time that the temple was building, it did not rain in the
daytime, but that the showers fell in the nights, so that the work was
not hindered. And this our fathers have delivered to us; nor is it incredible,
if any one have regard to the manifestations of God. And thus was performed
the work of the rebuilding of the temple.
ENDNOTE
(1)
The city here called "Babylon" by Josephus, seems to be one which
was built by some of the Seleucidae upon the Tigris, which long after the
utter desolation of old Babylon was commonly so called, and I suppose not
far from Seleueia; just as the latter adjoining city Bagdat has been and
is often called by the same old name of Babylon till this very day.
(2)
Here we have an eminent example of Herod's worldly and profane politics,
when by the abuse of his unlawful and usurped power, to make whom he pleased
high priest, in the person of Ananelus, he occasioned such disturbances
in his kingdom, and in his own family, as suffered him to enjoy no lasting
peace or tranquillity ever afterward; and such is frequently the effect
of profane court politics about matters of religion in other ages and nations.
The Old Testament is full of the miseries of the people of the Jews derived
from such court politics, especially in and after the days of Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, "who made Israel to sin;" who gave the most
pernicious example of it; who brought on the grossest corruption of religion
by it; and the punishment of whose family for it was most remarkable. The
case is too well known to stand in need of particular citations.
(3)
Of this wicked Dellius, see the note on the War, B. I. ch. 15. sect. 3.
(4)
When Josephus says here that this Ananelus, the new high priest, was "of
the stock of the high priests," and since he had been just telling
us that he was a priest of an obscure family or character, ch. 2. sect.
4, it is not at all probable that he could so soon say that he was "of
the stock of the high priests." However, Josephus here makes a remarkable
observation, that this Ananelus was the third that was ever unjustly and
wickedly turned out of the high priesthood by the civil power, no king
or governor having ventured to do so, that Josephus knew of, but that heathen
tyrant and persecutor Antiochus Epiphanes; that barbarous parricide Aristobulus,
the first that took royal authority among the Maccabees; and this tyrant
king Herod the Great, although afterward that infamous practice became
frequent, till the very destruction of Jerusalem, when the office of high
priesthood was at an end.
(5)
This entirely confutes the Talmudists, who pretend that no one under twenty
years of age could officiate as high priest among the Jews.
(6)
A Hebrew chronicle, cited by Reland, says this drowning was at Jordan,
not at Jericho, and this even when he quote Josephus. I suspect the transcriber
of the Hebrew chronicle mistook the name, and wrote Jordan for Jericho.
(7)
The reading of one of Josephus's Greek MSS. seems here to be right, that
Aristobulus was "not eighteen years old" when he was drowned,
for he was not seventeen when he was made high priest, ch. 2. sect. 6,
ch. 3. sect. 3, and he continued in that office but one year, as in the
place before us.
(8)
The reader is here to take notice, that this seventh year of the reign
of Herod, and all the other years of his reign, in Josephus, are dated
from the death of Antigonus, or at the soonest from the conclusion of Antigonus,
and the taking of Jerusalem a few months before, and never from his first
obtaining the kingdom at Rome, above three years before, as some have very
weakly and injudiciously done.
(9)
Herod says here, that as ambassadors were sacred when they carried messages
to others, so did the laws of the Jews derive a sacred authority by being
delivered from God by angels, [or Divine ambassadors,] which is St. Paul's
expression about the same laws, Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2;2.
(10)
This piece of religion, the supplicating God with sacrifices, by Herod,
before he went to this fight with the Arabians, taken notice of also in
the first book of the War, ch. 19. sect. 5, is worth remarking, because
it is the only example of this nature, so far as I remember, that Josephus
ever mentions in all his large and particular accounts of this Herod; and
it was when he had been in mighty distress, and discouraged by a great
defeat of his former army, and by a very great earthquake in Judea, such
times of affliction making men most religious; nor was he disappointed
of his hopes here, but immediately gained a most signal victory over the
Arabians, while they who just before had been so great victors, and so
much elevated upon the earthquake in Judea as to venture to slay the Jewish
ambassadors, were now under a strange consternation, and hardly able to
fight at all.
(11)
Whereas Mariamne is here represented as reproaching: Herod with the murder
of her father [Alexander], as well as her brother [Aristobulus], while
it was her grandfather Hyrcanus, and not her father Alexander, whom he
caused to be slain, (as Josephus himself informs us, ch. 6. sect. 2,) we
must either take Zonaras's reading, which is here grandfather, rightly,
or else we must, as before, ch. 1. sect. 1, allow a slip of Josephus's
pen or memory in the place before us.
(12)
Here is a plain example of a Jewish lady giving a bill of divorce to her
husband, though in the days of Josephus it was not esteemed lawful for
a woman so to do. See the like among the Parthians, Antiq. B. XVIII. ch.
9. sect. 6. However, the Christian law, when it allowed divorce for adultery,
Matthew 5:32, allowed the innocent wife to divorce her guilty husband,
as well as the innocent husband to divorce his guilty wife, as we learn
from the shepherd of Hermas, Mand. B. IV., and from: the second apology
of Justin Martyr, where a persecution was brought upon the Christians upon
such a divorce; and I think the Roman laws permitted it at that time, as
well as the laws of Christianity. Now this Babas, who was one of the race
of the Asamoneans or Maccabees, as the latter end of this section informs
us, is related by the Jews, as Dr. Hudson here remarks, to have been so
eminently religious in the Jewish way, that, except the day following the
tenth of Tisri, the great day of atonement, when he seems to have supposed
all his sins entirely forgiven, he used every day of the whole year to
offer a sacrifice for his sins of ignorance, or such as he supposed he
had been guilty of, but did not distinctly remember. See somewhat like
it of Agrippa the Great, Antiq. B. XIX. ch. 3. sect. 3, and Job 1:4, 5.
(13)
These grand plays, and shows, and Thymelici, or music meetings, and chariot
races, when the chariots were drawn by two, three, or four pair of horses,
etc., instituted by Herod in his theatres, were still, as we see here,
looked on by the sober Jews as heathenish sports, and tending to corrupt
the manners of the Jewish nation, and to bring them in love with paganish
idolatry, and paganish conduct of life, but to the dissolution of the law
of Moses, and accordingly were greatly and justly condemned by them, as
appears here and every where else in Josephus. Nor is the case of our modern
masquerades, plays, operas, and the like "pomps and vanities of this
wicked world," of any better tendency under Christianity.
(14)
Here we have an eminent example of the language of Josephus in his writing
to Gentiles, different from that when he wrote to Jews; in his writing
to whom he still derives all such judgments from the anger of God; but
because he knew many of the Gentiles thought they might naturally come
in certain periods, he complies with them in the following sentence. See
the note on the War. B. I. ch. 33. sect. 2.
(15)
This famine for two years that affected Judea and Syria, the thirteenth
mid fourteenth years of Herod, which are the twenty-third and twenty-fourth
years before the Christian era, seems to have been more terrible during
this time than was that in the days of Jacob, Genesis 41., 42. And what
makes the comparison the more remarkable is this, that now, as well as
then, the relief they had was from Egypt also; then from Joseph the governor
of Egypt, under Pharaoh king of Egypt; and now from Petronius the prefect
of Egypt, under Augustus the Roman emperor. See almost the like case, Antiq.
B. XX. ch. 2. sect. 6. It is also well worth our observation here, that
these two years were a Sabbatic year, and a year of jubilee, for which
Providence, during the theocracy, used to provide a triple crop beforehand;
but became now, when the Jews had forfeited that blessing, the greatest
years of famine to them ever since the days of Ahab, 1 Kings 17., 18.
(16)
This Aelius Gallus seems to be no other than that Aelius Lagus whom Dio
speaks of as conducting an expedition that was about this time made into
Arabia Felix, according to Betarius, who is here cited by Spanheim. See
a full account of this expedition in Prideaux, at the years 23 and 24.
(17)
One may here take notice, that how tyrannical and extravagant soever Herod
were in himself, and in his Grecian cities, as to those plays, and shows,
and temples for idolatry, mentioned above, ch. 8. sect. 1, and here also;
yet durst even he introduce very few of them into the cities of the Jews,
who, as Josephus here notes, would not even then have borne them, so zealous
were they still for many of the laws of Moses, even under so tyrannical
a government as this was of Herod the Great; which tyrannical government
puts me naturally in mind of Dean Prideaux's honest reflection upon the
like ambition after such tyrannical power in Pompey and Caesar: "One
of these (says he, at the year 60) could not bear an equal, nor the other
a superior; and through this ambitions humor and thirst after more power
in these two men, the whole Roman empire being divided into two opposite
factions, there was produced hereby the most destructive war that ever
afflicted it; and the like folly too much reigns in all other places. Could
about thirty men be persuaded to live at home in peace, without enterprising
upon the rights of each other, for the vain glory of conquest, and the
enlargement of power, the whole world might be at quiet; but their ambition,
their follies, and their humor, leading them constantly to encroach upon
and quarrel with each other, they involve all that are under them in the
mischiefs thereof; and many thousands are they which yearly perish by it;
so that it may almost raise a doubt, whether the benefit which the world
receives from government be sufficient to make amends for the calamities
which it suffers from the follies, mistakes, and real-administrations of
those that manage it."
(18)
Cesarea being here said to be rebuilt and adorned in twelve years, and
soon afterwards in ten years, Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 5. sect. 1, there must
be a mistake in one of the places as to the true number, but in which of
them it is hard positively to determine.
(19)
This Pollio, with whom Herod's sons lived at Rome, was not Pollio the Pharisee,
already mentioned by Josephus, ch. 1. sect. 1, and again presently after
this, ch. 10. sect. 4; but Asinine Pollo, the Roman, as Spanheim here observes.
(20)
The character of this Zenodorus is so like that of a famous robber of the
same name in Strabo, and that about this very country, and about this very
time also, that I think Dr. Hudson hardly needed to have put a overlaps
to his determination that they were the same.
(21)
A tetrarchy properly and originally denoted the fourth part of an entire
kingdom or country, and a tetrarch one that was ruler of such a fourth
part, which always implies somewhat less extent of dominion and power than
belong to a kingdom and to a king.
(22)
We may here observe, that the fancy of the modern Jews, in calling this
temple, which was really the third of their temples, the second temple,
followed so long by later Christians, seems to be without any solid foundation.
The reason why the Christians here followed the Jews is, because of the
prophecy of Haggai, 2:6-9, which they expound of the Messiah's coning to
the second or Zorobabel's temple, of which they suppose this of Herod to
be only a continuation; which is meant, I think, of his coming to the fourth
and last temple, of that future, largest, and most glorious one, described
by Ezekiel; whence I take the former notion, how general soever, to be
a great mistake. See Lit. Accorap. of Proph. p. 2.
(23)
Some of our modem students in architecture have made a strange blunder
here, when they imagine that Josephus affirms the entire foundations of
the temple or holy house sunk down into the rocky mountain on which it
stood no less than twenty cubits, whereas he is clear that they were the
foundations of the additional twenty cubits only above the hundred (made
perhaps weak on purpose, and only for show and grandeur) that sunk or fell
down, as Dr. Hudson rightly understands him; nor is the thing itself possible
in the other sense. Agrippa's preparation for building the inner parts
of the temple twenty cubits higher (History of the War, B. V. ch. 1. sect.
5) must in all probability refer to this matter, since Josephus says here,
that this which had fallen down was designed to be raised up again under
Nero, under whom Agrippa made that preparation. But what Josephus says
presently, that Solomon was the first king of the Jews, appears by the
parallel place, Antiq. B. XX. ch. 9. sect. 7, and other places, to be meant
only the first of David's posterity, and the first builder of the temple.
(24)
"Into none Of these three did king Herod enter," i.e. 1. Not
into the court of the priests; 2. Nor into the holy house itself; 3. Nor
into the separate place belonging to the altar, as the words following
imply; for none but priests, or their attendants the Levites, might come
into any of them. See Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 4. sect. 6, when Herod goes into
the temple, and makes a speech in it to the people, but that could only
be into the court of Israel, whither the people could come to hear him.
(25)
This tradition which Josephus here mentions, as delivered down from fathers
to their children, of this particular remarkable circumstance relating
to the building of Herod's temple, is a demonstration that such its building
was a known thing in Judea at this time. He was born about forty-six years
after it is related to have been finished, and might himself have seen
and spoken with some of the builders themselves, and with a great number
of those that had seen it building. The doubt therefore about the truth
of this history of the pulling down and rebuilding this temple by Herod,
which some weak people have indulged, was not then much greater than it
soon may be, whether or not our St. Paul's church in London was burnt down
in the fire of London, A.D. 1666, and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren a
little afterward.
Antiquities of the Jews
War of the Jews
Autobiography
Hades
Against Apion