Antiquities of the
Jews - Book XVII
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF FOURTEEN YEARS.
FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER AND ARISTOBULUS TO THE BANISHMENT
OF ARCHELAUS.
CHAPTER 1.
HOW ANTIPATER WAS HATED BY ALL THE NATION [OF THE JEWS] FOR
THE SLAUGHTER OF HIS BRETHREN; AND HOW, FOR THAT REASON HE GOT INTO PECULIAR
FAVOR WITH HIS FRIENDS AT ROME, BY GIVING THEM MANY PRESENTS; AS HE DID
ALSO WITH SATURNINUS, THE PRESIDENT OF SYRIA AND THE GOVERNORS WHO WERE
UNDER HIM; AND CONCERNING HEROD'S WIVES AND CHILDREN.
1. WHEN Antipater had thus taken off his brethren, and had brought his
father into the highest degree of impiety, till he was haunted with furies
for what he had done, his hopes did not succeed to his mind, as to the
rest of his life; for although he was delivered from the fear of his brethren
being his rivals as to the government, yet did he find it a very hard thing,
and almost impracticable, to come at the kingdom, because the hatred of
the nation against him on that account was become very great; and besides
this very disagreeable circumstance, the affair of the soldiery grieved
him still more, who were alienated from him, from which yet these kings
derived all the safety which they had, whenever they found the nation desirous
of innovation: and all this danger was drawn upon him by his destruction
of his brethren. However, he governed the nation jointly with his father,
being indeed no other than a king already; and he was for that very reason
trusted, and the more firmly depended on, for the which he ought himself
to have been put to death, as appearing to have betrayed his brethren out
of his concern for the preservation of Herod, and not rather out of his
ill-will to them, and, before them, to his father himself: and this was
the accursed state he was in. Now all Antipater's contrivances tended to
make his way to take off Herod, that he might have nobody to accuse him
in the vile practices he was devising: and that Herod might have no refuge,
nor any to afford him their assistance, since they must thereby have Antipater
for their open enemy; insomuch that the very plots he had laid against
his brethren were occasioned by the hatred he bore his father. But at this
time he was more than ever set upon the execution of his attempts against
Herod, because if he were once dead, the government would now be firmly
secured to him; but if he were suffered to live any longer, he should be
in danger, upon a discovery of that wickedness of which he had been the
contriver, and his father would of necessity then become his enemy. And
on this account it was that he became very bountiful to his father's friends,
and bestowed great sums on several of them, in order to surprise men with
his good deeds, and take off their hatred against him. And he sent great
presents to his friends at Rome particularly, to gain their good-will;
and above all to Saturninus, the president of Syria. He also hoped to gain
the favor of Saturninus's brother with the large presents he bestowed on
him; as also he used the same art to [Salome] the king's sister, who had
married one of Herod's chief friends. And when he counterfeited friendship
to those with whom he conversed, he was very subtle in gaining their belief,
and very cunning to hide his hatred against any that he really did hate.
But he could not impose upon his aunt, who understood him of a long time,
and was a woman not easily to be deluded, especially while she had already
used all possible caution in preventing his pernicious designs. Although
Antipeter's uncle by the mother's side was married to her daughter, and
this by his own connivance and management, while she had before been married
to Aristobulus, and while Salome's other daughter by that husband was married
to the son of Calleas; yet that marriage was no obstacle to her, who knew
how wicked he was, in her discovering his designs, as her former kindred
to him could not prevent her hatred of him. Now Herod had compelled Salome,
while she was in love with Sylleus the Arabian, and had taken a fondness
for him, to marry Alexas; which match was by her submitted to at the instance
of Julia, who persuaded Salome not to refuse it, lest she should herself
be their open enemy, since Herod had sworn that he would never be friends
with Salome, if she would not accept of Alexas for her husband; so she
submitted to Julia as being Caesar's wife; and besides that, she advised
her to nothing but what was very much for her own advantage. At this time
also it was that Herod sent back king Archelaus's daughter, who had been
Alexander's wife, to her father, returning the portion he had with her
out of his own estate, that there might be no dispute between them about
it.
2. Now Herod brought up his sons' children with great care; for Alexander
had two sons by Glaphyra; and Aristobulus had three sons by Bernice, Salome's
daughter, and two daughters; and as his friends were once with him, he
presented the children before them; and deploring the hard fortune of his
own sons, he prayed that no such ill fortune would befall these who were
their children, but that they might improve in virtue, and obtain what
they justly deserved, and might make him amends for his care of their education.
He also caused them to be betrothed against they should come to the proper
age of marriage; the elder of Alexander's sons to Pheroras's daughter,
and Antipater's daughter to Aristobulus's eldest son. He also allotted
one of Aristobulus's daughters to Antipater's son, and Aristobulus's other
daughter to Herod, a son of his own, who was born to him by the high priest's
daughter; for it is the ancient practice among us to have many wives at
the same time. Now the king made these espousals for the children, out
of commiseration of them now they were fatherless, as endeavoring to render
Antipater kind to them by these intermarriages. But Antipater did not fail
to bear the same temper of mind to his brothers' children which he had
borne to his brothers themselves; and his father's concern about them provoked
his indignation against them upon this supposal, that they would become
greater than ever his brothers had been; while Archclaus, a king, would
support his daughter's sons, and Pheroras, a tetrarch, would accept of
one of the daughters as a wife to his son. What provoked him also was this,
that all the multitude would so commiserate these fatherless children,
and so hate him [for making them fatherless], that all would come out,
since they were no strangers to his vile disposition towards his brethren.
He contrived, therefore, to overturn his father's settlements, as thinking
it a terrible thing that they should be so related to him, and be so powerful
withal. So Herod yielded to him, and changed his resolution at his entreaty;
and the determination now was, that Antipater himself should marry Aristobulus's
daughter, and Antipater's son should marry Pheroras's daughter. So the
espousals for the marriages were changed after this manner, even without
the king's real approbation.
3. Now Herod (1)
the king had at this time nine wives; one of them Antipater's mother, and
another the high priest's daughter, by whom he had a son of his own name.
He had also one who was his brother's daughter, and another his sister's
daughter; which two had no children. One of his wives also was of the Samaritan
nation, whose sons were Antipas and Archelaus, and whose daughter was Olympias;
which daughter was afterward married to Joseph, the king's brother's son;
but Archelaus and Antipas were brought up with a certain private man at
Rome. Herod had also to wife Cleopatra of Jerusalem, and by her he had
his sons Herod and Philip; which last was also brought up at Rome. Pallas
also was one of his wives, which bare him his son Phasaelus. And besides
these, he had for his wives Phedra and E1pis, by whom he had his daughters
Roxana and Salome. As for his elder daughters by the same mother with Alexander
and Aristobulus, and whom Pheroras neglected to marry, he gave the one
in marriage to Antipater, the king's sister's son, and the other to Phasaelus,
his brother's son. And this was the posterity of Herod.
CHAPTER 2.
CONCERNING ZAMARIS, THE BABYLONIAN JEW; CONCERNING THE PLOTS
LAID BY ANTIPATER AGAINST HIS FATHER; AND SOMEWHAT ABOUT THE PHARISEES.
1. AND now it was that Herod, being desirous of securing himself on
the side of the Trachonites, resolved to build a village as large as a
city for the Jews, in the middle of that country, which might make his
own country difficult to be assaulted, and whence he might be at hand to
make sallies upon them, and do them a mischief. Accordingly, when he understood
that there was a man that was a Jew come out of Babylon, with five hundred
horsemen, all of whom could shoot their arrows as they rode on horde-back,
and, with a hundred of his relations, had passed over Euphrates, and now
abode at Antioch by Daphne of Syria, where Saturninus, who was then president,
had given them a place for habitation, called Valatha, he sent for this
man, with the multitude that followed him, and promised to give him land
in the toparchy called Batanea, which country is bounded with Trachonitis,
as desirous to make that his habitation a guard to himself. He also engaged
to let him hold the country free from tribute, and that they should dwell
entirely without paying such customs as used to be paid, and gave it him
tax-free.
2. The Babylonian was reduced by these offers to come hither; so he
took possession of the land, and built in it fortresses and a village,
and named it Bathyra. Whereby this man became a safeguard to the inhabitants
against the Trachonites, and preserved those Jews who came out of Babylon,
to offer their sacrifices at Jerusalem, from being hurt by the Trachonite
robbers; so that a great number came to him from all those parts where
the ancient Jewish laws were observed, and the country became full of people,
by reason of their universal freedom from taxes. This continued during
the life of Herod; but when Philip, who was [tetrarch] after him, took
the government, he made them pay some small taxes, and that for a little
while only; and Agrippa the Great, and his son of the same name, although
they harassed them greatly, yet would they not take their liberty away.
From whom, when the Romans have now taken the government into their own
hands, they still gave them the privilege of their freedom, but oppress
them entirely with the imposition of taxes. Of which matter I shall treat
more accurately in the progress of this history. (2)
3. At length Zamaris the Babylonian, to whom Herod had given that country
for a possession, died, having lived virtuously, and left children of a
good character behind him; one of whom was Jacim, who was famous for his
valor, and taught his Babylonians how to ride their horses; and a troop
of them were guards to the forementioned kings. And when Jacim was dead
in his old age, he left a son, whose name was Philip, one of great strength
in his hands, and in other respects also more eminent for his valor than
any of his contemporaries; on which account there was a confidence and
firm friendship between him and king Agrippa. He had also an army which
he maintained as great as that of a king, which he exercised and led wheresoever
lie had occasion to march.
4. When the affairs of Herod were in the condition I have described,
all the public affairs depended upon Antipater; and his power was such,
that he could do good turns to as many as he pleased, and this by his father's
concession, in hopes of his good-will and fidelity to him; and this till
he ventured to use his power still further, because his wicked designs
were concealed from his father, and he made him believe every thing he
said. He was also formidable to all, not so much on account of the power
and authority he had, as for the shrewdness of his vile attempts beforehand;
but he who principally cultivated a friendship with him was Pheroras, who
received the like marks of his friendship; while Antipater had cunningly
encompassed him about by a company of women, whom he placed as guards about
him; for Pheroras was greatly enslaved to his wife, and to her mother,
and to her sister; and this notwithstanding the hatred he bare them for
the indignities they had offered to his virgin daughters. Yet did he bear
them, and nothing was to he done without the women, who had got this man
into their circle, and continued still to assist each other in all things,
insomuch that Antipater was entirely addicted to them, both by himself
and by his mother; for these four women, (3)
said all one and the same thing; but the opinions of Pheroras and Antipater
were different in some points of no consequence. But the king's sister
[Salome] was their antagonist, who for a good while had looked about all
their affairs, and was apprized that this their friendship was made in
order to do Herod some mischief, and was disposed to inform the king of
it. And since these people knew that their friendship was very disagreeable
to Herod, as tending to do him a mischief, they contrived that their meetings
should not be discovered; so they pretended to hate one another, and to
abuse one another when time served, and especially when Herod was present,
or when any one was there that would tell him: but still their intimacy
was firmer than ever, when they were private. And this was the course they
took. But they could not conceal from Salome neither their first contrivance,
when they set about these their intentions, nor when they had made some
progress in them; but she searched out every thing; and, aggravating the
relations to her brother, declared to him, as well their secret assemblies
and compotations, as their counsels taken in a clandestine manner, which
if they were not in order to destroy him, they might well enough have been
open and public. But to appearance they are at variance, and speak about
one another as if they intended one another a mischief, but agree so well
together when they are out of the sight of the multitude; for when they
are alone by themselves, they act in concert, and profess that they will
never leave off their friendship, but will fight against those from whom
they conceal their designs. And thus did she search out these things, and
get a perfect knowledge of them, and then told her brother of them, who
understood also of himself a great deal of what she said, but still durst
not depend upon it, because of the suspicions he had of his sister's calumnies.
For there was a certain sect of men that were Jews, who valued themselves
highly upon the exact skill they had in the law of their fathers, and made
men believe they were highly favored by God, by whom this set of women
were inveigled. These are those that are called the sect of the Pharisees,
who were in a capacity of greatly opposing kings. A cunning sect they were,
and soon elevated to a pitch of open fighting and doing mischief. Accordingly,
when all the people of the Jews gave assurance of their good-will to Caesar,
and to the king's government, these very men did not swear, being above
six thousand; and when the king imposed a fine upon them, Pheroras's wife
paid their fine for them. In order to requite which kindness of hers, since
they were believed to have the foreknowledge of things to come by Divine
inspiration, they foretold how God had decreed that Herod's government
should cease, and his posterity should be deprived of it; but that the
kingdom should come to her and Pheroras, and to their children. These predictions
were not concealed from Salome, but were told the king; as also how they
had perverted some persons about the palace itself; so the king slew such
of the Pharisees as were principally accused, and Bagoas the eunuch, and
one Carus, who exceeded all men of that time in comeliness, and one that
was his catamite. He slew also all those of his own family who had consented
to what the Pharisees foretold; and for Bagoas, he had been puffed up by
them, as though he should be named the father and the benefactor of him
who, by the prediction, was foretold to be their appointed king; for that
this king would have all things in his power, and would enable Bagoas to
marry, and to have children of his own body begotten.
CHAPTER 3.
CONCERNING THE ENMITY BETWEEN HEROD AND PHERORAS; HOW HEROD
SENT ANTIPATER TO CAESAR; AND OF THE DEATH OF PHERORAS.
1. WHEN Herod had punished those Pharisees who had been convicted of
the foregoing crimes, he gathered an assembly together of his friends,
and accused Pheroras's wife; and ascribing the abuses of the virgins to
the impudence of that woman, brought an accusation against her for the
dishonor she had brought upon them: that she had studiously introduced
a quarrel between him and his brother, and, by her ill temper, had brought
them into a state of war, both by her words and actions; that the fines
which he had laid had not been paid, and the offenders had escaped punishment
by her means; and that nothing which had of late been done had been done
without her; "for which reason Pheroras would do well, if he would
of his own accord, and by his own command, and not at my entreaty, or as
following my opinion, put this his wife away, as one that will still be
the occasion of war between thee and me. And now, Pheroras, if thou valuest
thy relation to me, put this wife of thine away; for by this means thou
wilt continue to be a brother to me, and wilt abide in thy love to me."
Then said Pheroras, (although he was pressed hard by the former words,)
that as he would not do so unjust a thing as to renounce his brotherly
relation to him, so would he not leave off his affection for his wife;
that he would rather choose to die than to live, and be deprived of a wife
that was so dear unto him. Hereupon Herod put off his anger against Pheroras
on these accounts, although he himself thereby underwent a very uneasy
punishment. However, he forbade Antipater and his mother to have any conversation
with Pheroras, and bid them to take care to avoid the assemblies of the
women; which they promised to do, but still got together when occasion
served, and both Ptieroras and Antipater had their own merry meetings.
The report went also, that Antipater had criminal conversation with Pheroras's
wife, and that they were brought together by Antipater's mother.
2. But Antipater had now a suspicion of his father, and was afraid that
the effects of his hatred to him might increase; so he wrote to his friends
at Rome, and bid them to send to Herod, that he would immediately send
Antipater to Caesar; which when it was done, Herod sent Antipater thither,
and sent most noble presents along with him; as also his testament, wherein
Antipater was appointed to be his successor; and that if Antipater should
die first, his son [Herod Philip] by the high priest's daughter should
succeed. And, together with Antipater, there went to Rome Sylleus the Arabian,
although he had done nothing of all that Caesar had enjoined him. Antipater
also accused him of the same crimes of which he had been formerly accused
by Herod. Sylleus was also accused by Aretas, that without his consent
he had slain many of the chief of the Arabians at Petra; and particularly
Soemus, a man that deserved to be honored by all men; and that he had slain
Fabatus, a servant of Caesar. These were the things of which Sylleus was
accused, and that on the occasion following: There was one Corinthus, belonging
to Herod, of the guards of the king's body, and one who was greatly trusted
by him. Sylleus had persuaded this man with the offer of a great sum of
money to kill Herod; and he had promised to do it. When Fabatus had been
made acquainted with this, for Sylleus had himself told him of it, he informed
the king of it; who caught Corinthus, and put him to the torture, and thereby
got out of him the whole conspiracy. He also caught two other Arabians,
who were discovered by Corinthus; the one the head of a tribe, and the
other a friend to Sylleus, who both were by the king brought to the torture,
and confessed that they were come to encourage Corinthus not to fail of
doing what he had undertaken to do; and to assist him with their own hands
in the murder, if need should require their assistance. So Saturninns,
upon Herod's discovering the whole to him, sent them to Rome.
3. At this time Herod commanded Pheroras, that since he was so obstinate
in his affection for his wife, he should retire into his own tetrarchy;
which he did very willingly, and sware many oaths that he would not come
again till he heard that Herod was dead. And indeed when, upon a sickness
of the king, he was desired to come to him before he died, that he might
intrust him with some of his injunctions, he had such a regard to his oath,
that he would not come to him; yet did not Herod so retain his hatred to
Pheroras, but remitted of his purpose [not to see him], which he before
had, and that for such great causes as have been already mentioned: but
as soon as he began to be ill, he came to him, and this without being sent
for; and when he was dead, he took care of his funeral, and had his body
brought to Jerusalem, and buried there, and appointed a solemn mourning
for him. This [death of Pheroras] became the origin of Antipater's misfortunes,
although he were already sailed for Rome, God now being about to punish
him for the murder of his brethren, I will explain the history of this
matter very distinctly, that it may be for a warning to mankind, that they
take care of conducting their whole lives by the rules of virtue.
CHAPTER 4.
PHERORAS'S WIFE IS ACCUSED BY HIS FREEDMEN, AS GUILTY OF
POISONING HIM; AND HOW HEROD, UPON EXAMINING; OF THE MATTER BY TORTURE
FOUND THE POISON; BUT SO THAT IT HAD BEEN PREPARED FOR HIMSELF BY HIS SON
ANTIPATER; AND UPON AN INQUIRY BY TORTURE HE DISCOVERED THE DANGEROUS DESIGNS
OF ANTIPATER.
1. AS soon as Pheroras was dead, and his funeral was over, two of Pheroras's
freed-men, who were much esteemed by him, came to Herod, and entreated
him not to leave the murder of his brother without avenging it, but to
examine into such an unreasonable and unhappy death. When he was moved
with these words, for they seemed to him to be true, they said that Pheroras
supped with his wife the day before he fell sick, and that a certain potion
was brought him in such a sort of food as he was not used to eat; but that
when he had eaten, he died of it: that this potion was brought out of Arabia
by a woman, under pretense indeed as a love-potion, for that was its name,
but in reality to kill Pheroras; for that the Arabian women are skillful
in making such poisons: and the woman to whom they ascribe this was confessedly
a most intimate friend of one of Sylleus's mistresses; and that both the
mother and the sister of Pheroras's wife had been at the places where she
lived, and had persuaded her to sell them this potion, and had come back
and brought it with them the day before that his supper. Hereupon the king
was provoked, and put the women slaves to the torture, and some that were
free with them; and as the fact did not yet appear, because none of them
would confess it, at length one of them, under the utmost agonies, said
no more but this, that she prayed that God would send the like agonies
upon Antipater's mother, who had been the occasion of these miseries to
all of them. This prayer induced Herod to increase the women's tortures,
till thereby all was discovered; their merry meetings, their secret assemblies,
and the disclosing of what he had said to his son alone unto Pheroras's
(4) women.
(Now what Herod had charged Antipater to conceal, was the gift of a hundred
talents to him not to have any conversation with Pheroras.) And what hatred
he bore to his father; and that he complained to his mother how very long
his father lived; and that he was himself almost an old man, insomuch that
if the kingdom should come to him, it would not afford him any great pleasure;
and that there were a great many of his brothers, or brothers' children,
bringing up, that might have hopes of the kingdom as well as himself, all
which made his own hopes of it uncertain; for that even now, if he should
himself not live, Herod had ordained that the government should be conferred,
not on his son, but rather on a brother. He also had accused the king of
great barbarity, and of the slaughter of his sons; and that it was out
of the fear he was under, lest he should do the like to him, that made
him contrive this his journey to Rome, and Pheroras contrive to go to his
own tetrarchy. (5)
2. These confessions agreed with what his sister had told him, and tended
greatly to corroborate her testimony, and to free her from the suspicion
of her unfaithfulness to him. So the king having satisfied himself of the
spite which Doris, Antipater's mother, as well as himself, bore to him,
took away from her all her fine ornaments, which were worth many talents,
and then sent her away, and entered into friendship with Pheroras's women.
But he who most of all irritated the king against his son was one Antipater,
the procurator of Antipater the king's son, who, when he was tortured,
among other things, said that Antipater had prepared a deadly potion, and
given it to Pheroras, with his desire that he would give it to his father
during his absence, and when he was too remote to have the least suspicion
cast upon him thereto relating; that Antiphilus, one of Antipater's friends,
brought that potion out of Egypt; and that it was sent to Pheroras by Thendion,
the brother of the mother of Antipater, the king's son, and by that means
came to Pheroras's wife, her husband having given it her to keep. And when
the king asked her about it, she confessed it; and as she was running to
fetch it, she threw herself down from the house-top; yet did she not kill
herself, because she fell upon her feet; by which means, when the king
had comforted her, and had promised her and her domestics pardon, upon
condition of their concealing nothing of the truth from him, but had threatened
her with the utmost miseries if she proved ungrateful [and concealed any
thing]: so she promised, and swore that she would speak out every thing,
and tell after what manner every thing was done; and said what many took
to be entirely true, that the potion was brought out of Egypt by Antiphilus;
and that his brother, who was a physician, had procured it; and that"
when Thendion brought it us, she kept it upon Pheroras's committing it
to her; and that it was prepared by Antipater for thee. When, therefore,
Pheroras was fallen sick, and thou camest to him and tookest care of him,
and when he saw the kindness thou hadst for him, his mind was overborne
thereby. So he called me to him, and said to me, 'O woman! Antipater hath
circumvented me in this affair of his father and my brother, by persuading
me to have a murderous intention to him, and procuring a potion to be subservient
thereto; do thou, therefore, go and fetch my potion, (since my brother
appears to have still the same virtuous disposition towards me which he
had formerly, and I do not expect to live long myself, and that I may not
defile my forefathers by the murder of a brother,) and burn it before my
face:' that accordingly she immediately brought it, and did as her husband
bade her; and that she burnt the greatest part of the potion; but that
a little of it was left, that if the king, after Pheroras's death, should
treat her ill, she might poison herself, and thereby get clear of her miseries."
Upon her saying thus, she brought out the potion, and the box in which
it was, before them all. Nay, there was another brother of Antiphilus,
and his mother also, who, by the extremity of pain and torture, confessed
the same things, and owned the box [to be that which had been brought out
of Egypt]. The high priest's daughter also, who was the king's wife, was
accused to have been conscious of all this, and had resolved to conceal
it; for which reason Herod divorced her, and blotted her son out of his
testament, wherein he had been mentioned as one that was to reign after
him; and he took the high priesthood away from his father-in-law, Simeon
the son of Boethus, and appointed Matthias the son of Theophilus, who was
born at Jerusalem, to be high priest in his room.
3. While this was doing, Bathyllus also, Antipater's freed-man, came
from Rome, and, upon the torture, was found to have brought another potion,
to give it into the hands of Antipater's mother, and of Pheroras, that
if the former potion did not operate upon the king, this at least might
carry him off. There came also letters from Herod's friends at Rome, by
the approbation and at the suggestion of Antipater, to accuse Archelaus
and Philip, as if they calumniated their father on account of the slaughter
of Alexander and Aristobulus, and as if they commiserated their deaths,
and as if, because they were sent for home, (for their father had already
recalled them,) they concluded they were themselves also to be destroyed.
These letters had been procured by great rewards by Antipater's friends;
but Antipater himself wrote to his father about them, and laid the heaviest
things to their charge; yet did he entirely excuse them of any guilt, and
said they were but young men, and so imputed their words to their youth.
But he said that he had himself been very busy in the affair relating to
Sylleus, and in getting interest among the great men; and on that account
had bought splendid ornaments to present them withal, which cost him two
hundred talents. Now one may wonder how it came about, that while so many
accusations were laid against him in Judea during seven months before this
time, he was not made acquainted with any of them. The causes of which
were, that the roads were exactly guarded, and that men hated Antipater;
for there was nobody who would run any hazard himself to gain him any advantages.
CHAPTER 5.
ANTIPATER'S NAVIGATION FROM ROME TO HIS FATHER; AND HOW HE
WAS ACCUSED BY NICOLAUS OF DAMASCUS AND CONDEMNED TO DIE BY HIS FATHER,
AND BY QUINTILIUS VARUS, WHO WAS THEN PRESIDENT OF SYRIA; AND HOW HE WAS
THEN BOUND TILL CAESAR SHOULD BE INFORMED OF HIS CAUSE.
1. NOW Herod, upon Antipater's writing to him, that having done all
that he was to do, and this in the manner he was to do it, he would suddenly
come to him, concealed his anger against him, and wrote back to him, and
bid him not delay his journey, lest any harm should befall himself in his
absence. At the same time also he made some little complaint about his
mother, but promised that he would lay those complaints aside when he should
return. He withal expressed his entire affection for him, as fearing lest
he should have some suspicion of him, and defer his journey to him; and
lest, while he lived at Rome, he should lay plots for the kingdom, and,
moreover, do somewhat against himself. This letter Antipater met with in
Cilicia; but had received an account of Pheroras's death before at Tarentum.
This last news affected him deeply; not out of any affection for Pheroras,
but because he was dead without having murdered his father, which he had
promised him to do. And when he was at Celenderis in Cilicia, he began
to deliberate with himself about his sailing home, as being much grieved
with the ejection of his mother. Now some of his friends advised him that
he should tarry a while some where, in expectation of further information.
But others advised him to sail home without delay; for that if he were
once come thither, he would soon put an end to all accusations, and that
nothing afforded any weight to his accusers at present but his absence.
He was persuaded by these last, and sailed on, and landed at the haven
called Sebastus, which Herod had built at vast expenses in honor of Caesar,
and called Sebastus. And now was Antipater evidently in a miserable condition,
while nobody came to him nor saluted him, as they did at his going away,
with good wishes of joyful acclamations; nor was there now any thing to
hinder them from entertaining him, on the contrary, with bitter curses,
while they supposed he was come to receive his punishment for the murder
of his brethren.
2. Now Quintilius Varus was at this time at Jerusalem, being sent to
succeed Saturninus as president of Syria, and was come as an assessor to
Herod, who had desired his advice in his present affairs; and as they were
sitting together, Antipater came upon them, without knowing any thing of
the matter; so he came into the palace clothed in purple. The porters indeed
received him in, but excluded his friends. And now he was in great disorder,
and presently understood the condition he was in, while, upon his going
to salute his father, he was repulsed by him, who called him a murderer
of his brethren, and a plotter of destruction against himself, and told
him that Varus should be his auditor and his judge the very next day; so
he found that what misfortunes he now heard of were already upon him, with
the greatness of which he went away in confusion; upon which his mother
and his wife met him, (which wife was the daughter of Antigonus, who was
king of the Jews before Herod,) from whom he learned all circumstances
which concerned him, and then prepared himself for his trial.
3. On the next day Varus and the king sat together in judgment, and
both their friends were also called in, as also the king's relations, with
his sister Salome, and as many as could discover any thing, and such as
had been tortured; and besides these, some slaves of Antipater's mother,
who were taken up a little before Antipater's coming, and brought with
them a written letter, the sum of which was this: That he should not come
back, because all was come to his father's knowledge; and that Caesar was
the only refuge he had left to prevent both his and her delivery into his
father's hands. Then did Antipater fall down at his father's feet, and
besought him not to prejudge his cause, but that he might be first heard
by his father, and that his father would keep himself unprejudiced. So
Herod ordered him to be brought into the midst, and then lamented himself
about his children, from whom he had suffered such great misfortunes; and
because Antipater fell upon him in his old age. He also reckoned up what
maintenance and what education he had given them; and what seasonable supplies
of wealth he had afforded them, according to their own desires; none of
which favors had hindered them from contriving against him, and from bringing
his very life into danger, in order to gain his kingdom, after an impious
manner, by taking away his life before the course of nature, their father's
wishes, or justice required that that kingdom should come to them; and
that he wondered what hopes could elevate Antipater to such a pass as to
be hardy enough to attempt such things; that he had by his testament in
writing declared him his successor in the government; and while he was
alive, he was in no respect inferior to him, either in his illustrious
dignity, or in power and authority, he having no less than fifty talents
for his yearly income, and had received for his journey to Rome no fewer
than thirty talents. He also objected to him the case of his brethren whom
he had accused; and if they were guilty, he had imitated their example;
and if not, he had brought him groundless accusations against his near
relations; for that he had been acquainted with all those things by him,
and by nobody else, and had done what was done by his approbation, and
whom he now absolved from all that was criminal, by becoming the inheritor
of the guilt of such their parricide.
4. When Herod had thus spoken, he fell a weeping, and was not able to
say any more; but at his desire Nicolaus of Damascus, being the king's
friend, and always conversant with him, and acquainted with whatsoever
he did, and with the circumstances of his affairs, proceeded to what remained,
and explained all that concerned the demonstrations and evidences of the
facts. Upon which Antipater, in order to make his legal defense, turned
himself to his father, and enlarged upon the many indications he had given
of his good-will to him; and instanced in the honors that had been done
him, which yet had not been done, had he not deserved them by his virtuous
concern about him; for that he had made provision for every thing that
was fit to be foreseen beforehand, as to giving him his wisest advice;
and whenever there was occasion for the labor of his own hands, he had
not grudged any such pains for him. And that it was almost impossible that
he, who had delivered his father from so many treacherous contrivances
laid against him, should be himself in a plot against him, and so lose
all the reputation he had gained for his virtue, by his wickedness which
succeeded it; and this while he had nothing to prohibit him, who was already
appointed his successor, to enjoy the royal honor with his father also
at present; and that there was no likelihood that a person who had the
one half of that authority without any danger, and with a good character,
should hunt after the whole with infamy and danger, and this when it was
doubtful whether he could obtain it or not; and when he saw the sad example
of his brethren before him, and was both the informer and the accuser against
them, at a time when they might not otherwise have been discovered; nay,
was the author of the punishment inflicted upon them, when it appeared
evidently that they were guilty of a wicked attempt against their father;
and that even the contentions there were in the king's family were indications
that he had ever managed affairs out of the sincerest affection to his
father. And as to what he had done at Rome, Caesar was a witness thereto,
who yet was no more to be imposed upon than God himself; of whose opinions
his letters sent hither are sufficient evidence; and that it was not reasonable
to prefer the calumnies of such as proposed to raise disturbances before
those letters; the greatest part of which calumnies had been raised during
his absence, which gave scope to his enemies to forge them, which they
had not been able to do if he had been there. Moreover he showed the weakness
of the evidence obtained by torture, which was commonly false, because
the distress men are in under such tortures naturally obliges them to say
many things in order to please those that govern them. He also offered
himself to the torture.
5. Hereupon there was a change observed in the assembly, while they
greatly pitied Antipater, who by weeping and putting on a countenance suitable
to his sad case made them commiserate the same, insomuch that his very
enemies were moved to compassion; and it appeared plainly that Herod himself
was affected in his own mind, although he was not willing it should be
taken notice of. Then did Nicolaus begin to prosecute what the king had
begun, and that with great bitterness; and summed up all the evidence which
arose from the tortures, or from the testimonies. He principally and largely
cried up the king's virtues, which he had exhibited in the maintenance
and education of his sons; while he never could gain any advantage thereby,
but still fell from one misfortune to another. Although he owned that he
was not so much surprised with that thoughtless behavior of his former
sons, who were but young, and were besides corrupted by wicked counselors,
who were the occasion of their wiping out of their minds the righteous
dictates of nature, and this out of a desire of coming to the government
sooner than they ought to do; yet that he could not but justly stand amazed
at the horrid wickedness of Antipater, who, although he had not only had
great benefits bestowed on him by his father, enough to tame his reason,
yet could not be more tamed than the most envenomed serpents; whereas even
those creatures admit of some mitigation, and will not bite their benefactors,
while Antipater hath not let the misfortunes of his brethren be any hinderance
to him, but he hath gone on to imitate their barbarity notwithstanding.
"Yet wast thou, O Antipater! (as thou hast thyself confessed,) the
informer as to what wicked actions they had done, and the searcher out
of the evidence against them, and the author of the punishment they underwent
upon their detection. Nor do we say this as accusing thee for being so
zealous in thy anger against them, but are astonished at thy endeavors
to imitate their profligate behavior; and we discover thereby that thou
didst not act thus for the safety of thy father, but for the destruction
of thy brethren, that by such outside hatred of their impiety thou mightest
be believed a lover of thy father, and mightest thereby get thee power
enough to do mischief with the greatest impunity; which design thy actions
indeed demonstrate. It is true, thou tookest thy brethren off, because
thou didst convict theft of their wicked designs; but thou didst not yield
up to justice those who were their partners; and thereby didst make it
evident to all men that thou madest a covenant with them against thy father,
when thou chosest to be the accuser of thy brethren, as desirous to gain
to thyself alone this advantage of laying plots to kill thy father, and
so to enjoy double pleasure, which is truly worthy of thy evil disposition,
which thou has openly showed against thy brethren; on which account thou
didst rejoice, as having done a most famous exploit, nor was that behavior
unworthy of thee. But if thy intention were otherwise, thou art worse than
they: while thou didst contrive to hide thy treachery against thy father,
thou didst hate them, not as plotters against thy father, for in that case
thou hadst not thyself fallen upon the like crime, but as successors of
his dominions, and more worthy of that succession than thyself. Thou wouldst
kill thy father after thy brethren, lest thy lies raised against them might
be detected; and lest thou shouldst suffer what punishment thou hadst deserved,
thou hadst a mind to exact that punishment of thy unhappy father, and didst
devise such a sort of uncommon parricide as the world never yet saw. For
thou who art his son didst not only lay a treacherous design against thy
father, and didst it while he loved thee, and had been thy benefactor,
had made thee in reality his partner in the kingdom, and had openly declared
thee his successor, while thou wast not forbidden to taste the sweetness
of authority already, and hadst the firm hope of what was future by thy
father's determination, and the security of a written testament; but, for
certain, thou didst not measure these things according to thy father's
various disposition, but according to thy own thoughts and inclinations;
and was desirous to take the part that remained away from thy too indulgent
father, and soughtest to destroy him with thy deeds, whom thou in words
pretendedst to preserve. Nor wast thou content to be wicked thyself, but
thou filledst thy mother's head with thy devices, and raised disturbances
among thy brethren, and hadst the boldness to call thy father a wild beast;
while thou hadst thyself a mind more cruel than any serpent, whence thou
sentest out that poison among thy nearest kindred and greatest benefactors,
and invitedst them to assist thee and guard thee, and didst hedge thyself
in on all sides, by the artifices of both men and women, against an old
man, as though that mind of thine was not sufficient of itself to support
so great a hatred as thou baredst to him. And here thou appearest, after
the tortures of free-men, of domestics, of men and women, which have been
examined on thy account, and after the informations of thy fellow conspirators,
as making haste to contradict the truth; and hast thought on ways not only
how to take thy father out of the world, but to disannul that written law
which is against thee, and the virtue of Varus, and the nature of justice;
nay, such is that impudence of thine on which thou confidest, that thou
desirest to be put to the torture thyself, while thou allegest that the
tortures of those already examined thereby have made them tell lies; that
those that have been the deliverers of thy father may not be allowed to
have spoken the truth; but that thy tortures may be esteemed the discoverers
of truth. Wilt not thou, O Varus! deliver the king from the injuries of
his kindred? Wilt not thou destroy this wicked wild beast, which hath pretended
kindness to his father, in order to destroy his brethren; while yet he
is himself alone ready to carry off the kingdom immediately, and appears
to be the most bloody butcher to him of them all? for thou art sensible
that parricide is a general injury both to nature and to common life, and
that the intention of parricide is not inferior to its perpetration; and
he who does not punish it is injurious to nature itself."
6. Nicolaus added further what belonged to Antipater's mother, and whatsoever
she had prattled like a woman; as also about the predictions and the sacrifices
relating to the king; and whatsoever Antipater had done lasciviously in
his cups and his amours among Pheroras's women; the examination upon torture;
and whatsoever concerned the testimonies of the witnesses, which were many,
and of various kinds; some prepared beforehand, and others were sudden
answers, which further declared and confirmed the foregoing evidence. For
those men who were not acquainted with Antipater's practices, but had concealed
them out of fear, when they saw that he was exposed to the accusations
of the former witnesses, and that his great good fortune, which had supported
him hitherto, had now evidently betrayed him into the hands of his enemies,
who were now insatiable in their hatred to him, told all they knew of him.
And his ruin was now hastened, not so much by the enmity of those that
were his accusers, as by his gross, and impudent, and wicked contrivances,
and by his ill-will to his father and his brethren; while he had filled
their house with disturbance, and caused them to murder one another; and
was neither fair in his hatred, nor kind in his friendship, but just so
far as served his own turn. Now there were a great number who for a long
time beforehand had seen all this, and especially such as were naturally
disposed to judge of matters by the rules of virtue, because they were
used to determine about affairs without passion, but had been restrained
from making any open complaints before; these, upon the leave now given
them, produced all that they knew before the public. The demonstrations
also of these wicked facts could no way be disproved, because the many
witnesses there were did neither speak out of favor to Herod, nor were
they obliged to keep what they had to say silent, out of suspicion of any
danger they were in; but they spake what they knew, because they thought
such actions very wicked, and that Antipater deserved the greatest punishment;
and indeed not so much for Herod's safety, as on account of the man's own
wickedness. Many things were also said, and those by a great number of
persons, who were no way obliged to say them, insomuch that Antipater,
who used generally to be very shrewd in his lies and impudence, was not
able to say one word to the contrary. When Nicolaus had left off speaking,
and had produced the evidence, Varus bid Antipater to betake himself to
the making his defense, if he had prepared any thing whereby it might appear
that he was not guilty of the crimes he was accused of; for that, as he
was himself desirous, so did he know that his father was in like manner
desirous also, to have him found entirely innocent. But Antipater fell
down on his face, and appealed to God and to all men for testimonials of
his innocency, desiring that God would declare, by some evident signals,
that he had not laid any plot against his father. This being the usual
method of all men destitute of virtue, that when they set about any wicked
undertakings, they fall to work according to their own inclinations, as
if they believed that God was unconcerned in human affairs; but when once
they are found out, and are in danger of undergoing the punishment due
to their crimes, they endeavor to overthrow all the evidence against them
by appealing to God; which was the very thing which Antipater now did;
for whereas he had done everything as if there were no God in the world,
when he was on all sides distressed by justice, and when he had no other
advantage to expect from any legal proofs, by which he might disprove the
accusations laid against him, he impudently abused the majesty of God,
and ascribed it to his power that he had been preserved hitherto; and produced
before them all what difficulties he had ever undergone in his bold acting
for his father's preservation.
7. So when Varus, upon asking Antipater what he had to say for himself,
found that he had nothing to say besides his appeal to God, and saw that
there was no end of that, he bid them bring the potion before the court,
that he might see what virtue still remained in it; and when it was brought,
and one that was condemned to die had drank it by Varus's command, he died
presently. Then Varus got up, and departed out of the court, and went away
the day following to Antioch, where his usual residence was, because that
was the palace of the Syrians; upon which Herod laid his son in bonds.
But what were Varus's discourses to Herod was not known to the generality,
and upon what words it was that he went away; though it was also generally
supposed that whatsoever Herod did afterward about his son was done with
his approbation. But when Herod had bound his son, he sent letters to Rome
to Caesar about him, and such messengers withal as should, by word of mouth,
inform Caesar of Antipater's wickedness. Now at this very time there was
seized a letter of Antiphilus, written to Antipater out of Egypt (for he
lived there); and when it was opened by the king, it was found to contain
what follows: "I have sent thee Acme's letter, and hazarded my own
life; for thou knowest that I am in danger from two families, if I be discovered.
I wish thee good success in thy affair." These were the contents of
this letter; but the king made inquiry about the other letter also, for
it did not appear; and Antiphilus's slave, who brought that letter which
had been read, denied that he had received the other. But while the king
was in doubt about it, one of Herod's friends seeing a seam upon the inner
coat of the slave, and a doubling of the cloth, (for he had two coats on,)
he guessed that the letter might be within that doubling; which accordingly
proved to be true. So they took out the letter, and its contents were these:
"Acme to Antipater. I have written such a letter to thy father as
thou desiredst me. I have also taken a copy and sent it, as if it came
from Salome, to my lady [Livia]; which, when thou readest, I know that
Herod Will punish Salome, as plotting against him?' Now this pretended
letter of Salome to her lady was composed by Antipater, in the name of
Salome, as to its meaning, but in the words of Acme. The letter was this:
"Acme to king Herod. I have done my endeavor that nothing that is
done against thee should be concealed from thee. So, upon my finding a
letter of Salome written to my lady against thee, I have written out a
copy, and sent it to thee; with hazard to myself, but for thy advantage.
The reason why she wrote it was this, that she had a mind to be married
to Sylleus. Do thou therefore tear this letter in pieces, that I may not
come into danger of my life." Now Acme had written to Antipater himself,
and informed him, that, in compliance with his command, she had both herself
written to Herod, as if Salome had laid a sudden plot entirely against
him, and had herself sent a copy of an epistle, as coming from Salome to
her lady. Now Acme was a Jew by birth, and a servant to Julia, Caesar's
wife; and did this out of her friendship for Antipater, as having been
corrupted by him with a large present of money, to assist in his pernicious
designs against his father and his aunt.
8. Hereupon Herod was so amazed at the prodigious wickedness of Antipater,
that he was ready to have ordered him to be slain immediately, as a turbulent
person in the most important concerns, and as one that had laid a plot
not only against himself, but against his sister also, and even corrupted
Caesar's own domestics. Salome also provoked him to it, beating her breast,
and bidding him kill her, if he could produce any credible testimony that
she had acted in that manner. Herod also sent for his son, and asked him
about this matter, and bid him contradict if he could, and not suppress
any thing he had to say for himself; and when he had not one word to say,
he asked him, since he was every way caught in his villainy, that he would
make no further delay, but discover his associates in these his wicked
designs. So he laid all upon Antiphilus, but discovered nobody else. Hereupon
Herod was in such great grief, that he was ready to send his son to Rome
to Caesar, there to give an account of these his wicked contrivances. But
he soon became afraid, lest he might there, by the assistance of his friends,
escape the danger he was in; so he kept him bound as before, and sent more
ambassadors and letters [to Rome] to accuse his son, and an account of
what assistance Acme had given him in his wicked designs, with copies of
the epistles before mentioned.
CHAPTER 6.
CONCERNING THE DISEASE THAT HEROD FELL INTO AND THE SEDITION
WHICH THE JEWS RAISED THEREUPON; WITH THE PUNISHMENT OF THE SEDITIOUS.
1. NOW Herod's ambassadors made haste to Rome; but sent, as instructed
beforehand, what answers they were to make to the questions put to them.
They also carried the epistles with them. But Herod now fell into a distemper,
and made his will, and bequeathed his kingdom to [Antipas], his youngest
son; and this out of that hatred to Archclaus and Philip, which the calumnies
of Antipater had raised against them. He also bequeathed .a thousand talents
to Caesar, and five hundred to Julia, Caesar's wife, to Caesar's children,
and friends and freed-men. He also distributed among his sons and their
sons his money, his revenues, and his lands. He also made Salome his sister
very rich, because she had continued faithful to him in all his circumstances,
and was never so rash as to do him any harm; and as he despaired of recovering,
for he was about the seventieth year of his age, he grew fierce, and indulged
the bitterest anger upon all occasions; the cause whereof was this, that
he thought himself despised, and that the nation was pleased with his misfortunes;
besides which, he resented a sedition which some of the lower sort of men
excited against him, the occasion of which was as follows.
2. There was one Judas, the son of Saripheus, and Mattbias, the son
of Margalothus, two of the most eloquent men among the Jews, and the most
celebrated interpreters of the Jewish laws, and men well beloved by the
people, because of their education of their youth; for all those that were
studious of virtue frequented their lectures every day. These men, when
they found that the king's distemper was incurable, excited the young men
that they would pull down all those works which the king had erected contrary
to the law of their fathers, and thereby obtain the rewards which the law
will confer on them for such actions of piety; for that it was truly on
account of Herod's rashness in making such things as the law had forbidden,
that his other misfortunes, and this distemper also, which was so unusual
among mankind, and with which he was now afflicted, came upon him; for
Herod had caused such things to be made which were contrary to the law,
of which he was accused by Judas and Matthias; for the king had erected
over the great gate of the temple a large golden eagle, of great value,
and had dedicated it to the temple. Now the law forbids those that propose
to live according to it, to erect images (6)
or representations of any living creature. So these wise men persuaded
[their scholars] to pull down the golden eagle; alleging, that although
they should incur any danger, which might bring them to their deaths, the
virtue of the action now proposed to them would appear much more advantageous
to them than the pleasures of life; since they would die for the preservation
and observation of the law of their fathers; since they would also acquire
an everlasting fame and commendation; since they would be both commended
by the present generation, and leave an example of life that would never
be forgotten to posterity; since that common calamity of dying cannot be
avoided by our living so as to escape any such dangers; that therefore
it is a right thing for those who are in love with a virtuous conduct,
to wait for that fatal hour by such behavior as may carry them out of the
world with praise and honor; and that this will alleviate death to a great
degree, thus to come at it by the performance of brave actions, which bring
us into danger of it; and at the same time to leave that reputation behind
them to their children, and to all their relations, whether they be men
or women, which will be of great advantage to them afterward.
3. And with such discourses as this did these men excite the young men
to this action; and a report being come to them that the king was dead,
this was an addition to the wise men's persuasions; so, in the very middle
of the day, they got upon the place, they pulled down the eagle, and cut
it into pieces with axes, while a great number of the people were in the
temple. And now the king's captain, upon hearing what the undertaking was,
and supposing it was a thing of a higher nature than it proved to be, came
up thither, having a great band of soldiers with him, such as was sufficient
to put a stop to the multitude of those who pulled down what was dedicated
to God; so he fell upon them unexpectedly, and as they were upon this bold
attempt, in a foolish presumption rather than a cautious circumspection,
as is usual with the multitude, and while they were in disorder, and incautious
of what was for their advantage; so he caught no fewer than forty of the
young men, who had the courage to stay behind when the rest ran away, together
with the authors of this bold attempt, Judas and Matthius, who thought
it an ignominious thing to retire upon his approach, and led them to the
king. And when they were come to the king, and he asked them if they had
been so bold as to pull down what he had dedicated to God, "Yes, (said
they,) what was contrived we contrived, and what hath been performed we
performed it, and that with such a virtuous courage as becomes men; for
we have given our assistance to those things which were dedicated to the
majesty of God, and we have provided for what we have learned by hearing
the law; and it ought not to be wondered at, if we esteem those laws which
Moses had suggested to him, and were taught him by God, and which he wrote
and left behind him, more worthy of observation than thy commands. Accordingly
we will undergo death, and all sorts of punishments which thou canst inflict
upon us, with pleasure, since we are conscious to ourselves that we shall
die, not for any unrighteous actions, but for our love to religion."
And thus they all said, and their courage was still equal to their profession,
and equal to that with which they readily set about this undertaking. And
when the king had ordered them to be bound, he sent them to Jericho, and
called together the principal men among the Jews; and when they were come,
he made them assemble in the theater, and because he could not himself
stand, he lay upon a couch, and enumerated the many labors that he had
long endured on their account, and his building of the temple, and what
a vast charge that was to him; while the Asamoneans, during the hundred
and twenty-five years of their government, had not been able to perform
any so great a work for the honor of God as that was; that he had also
adorned it with very valuable donations, on which account he hoped that
he had left himself a memorial, and procured himself a reputation after
his death. He then cried out, that these men had not abstained from affronting
him, even in his lifetime, but that in the very day time, and in the sight
of the multitude, they had abused him to that degree, as to fall upon what
he had dedicated, and in that way of abuse had pulled it down to the ground.
They pretended, indeed, that they did it to affront him; but if any one
consider the thing truly, they will find that they were guilty of sacrilege
against God therein.
4. But the people, on account of Herod's barbarous temper, and for fear
he should be so cruel and to inflict punishment on them, said what was
done was done without their approbation, and that it seemed to them that
the actors might well be punished for what they had done. But as for Herod,
he dealt more mildly with others [of the assembly] but he deprived Matthias
of the high priesthood, as in part an occasion of this action, and made
Joazar, who was Matthias's wife's brother, high priest in his stead. Now
it happened, that during the time of the high priesthood of this Matthias,
there was another person made high priest for a single day, that very day
which the Jews observed as a fast. The occasion was this: This Matthias
the high priest, on the night before that day when the fast was to be celebrated,
seemed, in a dream, (7)
to have conversation with his wife; and because he could not officiate
himself on that account, Joseph, the son of Ellemus, his kinsman, assisted
him in that sacred office. But Herod deprived this Matthias of the high
priesthood, and burnt the other Matthias, who had raised the sedition,
with his companions, alive. And that very night there was an eclipse of
the moon. (8)
5. But now Herod's distemper greatly increased upon him after a severe
manner, and this by God's judgment upon him for his sins; for a fire glowed
in him slowly, which did not so much appear to the touch outwardly, as
it augmented his pains inwardly; for it brought upon him a vehement appetite
to eating, which he could not avoid to supply with one sort of food or
other. His entrails were also ex-ulcerated, and the chief violence of his
pain lay on his colon; an aqueous and transparent liquor also had settled
itself about his feet, and a like matter afflicted him at the bottom of
his belly. Nay, further, his privy-member was putrefied, and produced worms;
and when he sat upright, he had a difficulty of breathing, which was very
loathsome, on account of the stench of his breath, and the quickness of
its returns; he had also convulsions in all parts of his body, which increased
his strength to an insufferable degree. It was said by those who pretended
to divine, and who were endued with wisdom to foretell such things, that
God inflicted this punishment on the king on account of his great impiety;
yet was he still in hopes of recovering, though his afflictions seemed
greater than any one could bear. He also sent for physicians, and did not
refuse to follow what they prescribed for his assistance, and went beyond
the river Jordan, and bathed himself in the warm baths that were at Callirrhoe,
which, besides their other general virtues, were also fit to drink; which
water runs into the lake called Asphaltiris. And when the physicians once
thought fit to have him bathed in a vessel full of oil, it was supposed
that he was just dying; but upon the lamentable cries of his domestics,
he revived; and having no longer the least hopes of recovering, he gave
order that every soldier should be paid fifty drachmae; and he also gave
a great deal to their commanders, and to his friends, and came again to
Jericho, where he grew so choleric, that it brought him to do all things
like a madman; and though he were near his death, he contrived the following
wicked designs. He commanded that all the principal men of the entire Jewish
nation, wheresoever they lived, should be called to him. Accordingly, they
were a great number that came, because the whole nation was called, and
all men heard of this call, and death was the penalty of such as should
despise the epistles that were sent to call them. And now the king was
in a wild rage against them all, the innocent as well as those that had
afforded ground for accusations; and when they were come, he ordered them
to be all shut up in the hyppodrome, (9)
and sent for his sister Salome, and her husband Alexas, and spake thus
to them: "I shall die in a little time, so great are my pains; which
death ought to be cheerfully borne, and to be welcomed by all men; but
what principally troubles me is this, that I shall die without being lamented,
and without such mourning as men usually expect at a king's death. For
that he was not unacquainted with the temper of the Jews, that his death
would be a thing very desirable, and exceedingly acceptable to them, because
during his lifetime they were ready to revolt from him, and to abuse the
donations he had dedicated to God that it therefore was their business
to resolve to afford him some alleviation of his great sorrows on this
occasion; for that if they do not refuse him their consent in what he desires,
he shall have a great mourning at his funeral, and such as never had any
king before him; for then the whole nation would mourn from their very
soul, which otherwise would be done in sport and mockery only. He desired
therefore, that as soon as they see he hath given up the ghost, they shall
place soldiers round the hippodrome, while they do not know that he is
dead; and that they shall not declare his death to the multitude till this
is done, but that they shall give orders to have those that are in custody
shot with their darts; and that this slaughter of them all will cause that
he shall not miss to rejoice on a double account; that as he is dying,
they will make him secure that his will shall be executed in what he charges
them to do; and that he shall have the honor of a memorable mourning at
his funeral. So he deplored his condition, with tears in his eyes, and
obtested them by the kindness due from them, as of his kindred, and by
the faith they owed to God, and begged of them that they would not hinder
him of this honorable mourning at his funeral. So they promised him not
to transgress his commands.
6. Now any one may easily discover the temper of this man's mind, which
not only took pleasure in doing what he had done formerly against his relations,
out of the love of life, but by those commands of his which savored of
no humanity; since he took care, when he was departing out of this life,
that the whole nation should be put into mourning, and indeed made desolate
of their dearest kindred, when he gave order that one out of every family
should be slain, although they had done nothing that was unjust, or that
was against him, nor were they accused of any other crimes; while it is
usual for those who have any regard to virtue to lay aside their hatred
at such a time, even with respect to those they justly esteemed their enemies.
CHAPTER 7.
HEROD HAS THOUGHTS OF KILLING HIMSELF WITH HIS OWN HAND;
AND A LITTLE AFTERWARDS HE ORDERS ANTIPATER TO BE SLAIN.
1. AS he was giving these commands to his relations, there came letters
from his ambassadors, who had been sent to Rome unto Caesar, which, when
they were read, their purport was this: That Acme was slain by Caesar,
out of his indignation at what hand, she had in Antipater's wicked practices;
and that as to Antipater himself, Caesar left it to Herod to act as became
a father and a king, and either to banish him, or to take away his life,
which he pleased. When Herod heard this, he was some-what better, out of
the pleasure he had from the contents of the letters, and was elevated
at the death of Acme, and at the power that was given him over his son;
but as his pains were become very great, he was now ready to faint for
want of somewhat to eat; so he called for an apple and a knife; for it
was his custom formerly to pare the apple himself, and soon afterwards
to cut it, and eat it. When he had got the knife, he looked about, and
had a mind to stab himself with it; and he had done it, had not his first
cousin, Achiabus, prevented him, and held his hand, and cried out loudly.
Whereupon a woeful lamentation echoed through the palace, and a great tumult
was made, as if the king were dead. Upon which Antipater, who verily believed
his father was deceased, grew bold in his discourse, as hoping to be immediately
and entirely released from his bonds, and to take the kingdom into his
hands without any more ado; so he discoursed with the jailer about letting
him go, and in that case promised him great things, both now and hereafter,
as if that were the only thing now in question. But the jailer did not
only refuse to do what Antipater would have him, but informed the king
of his intentions, and how many solicitations he had had from him [of that
nature]. Hereupon Herod, who had formerly no affection nor good-will towards
his son to restrain him, when he heard what the jailer said, he cried out,
and beat his head, although he was at death's door, and raised himself
upon his elbow, and sent for some of his guards, and commanded them to
kill Antipater without tiny further delay, and to do it presently, and
to bury him in an ignoble manner at Hyrcania.
CHAPTER 8.
CONCERNING HEROD'S DEATH, AND TESTAMENT, AND BURIAL.
1. AND now Herod altered his testament upon the alteration of his mind;
for he appointed Antipas, to whom he had before left the kingdom, to be
tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, and granted the kingdom to Archclaus. He
also gave Gaulonitis, and Trachonitis, and Paneas to Philip, who was his
son, but own brother to Archclaus (10)
by the name of a tetrarchy; and bequeathed Jarnnia, and Ashdod, and Phasaelis
to Salome his sister, with five hundred thousand [drachmae] of silver that
was coined. He also made provision for all the rest of his kindred, by
giving them sums of money and annual revenues, and so left them all in
a wealthy condition. He bequeathed also to Caesar ten millions [of drachmae]
of coined money, besides both vessels of gold and silver, and garments
exceeding costly, to Julia, Caesar's wife; and to certain others, five
millions. When he had done these things, he died, the fifth day after he
had caused Antipater to be slain; having reigned, since he had procured
Antigonus to be slain, thirty-four years; but since he had been declared
king by the Romans, thirty-seven. (11)
A man he was of great barbarity towards all men equally, and a slave to
his passion; but above the consideration of what was right; yet was he
favored by fortune as much as any man ever was, for from a private man
he became a king; and though he were encompassed with ten thousand dangers,
he got clear of them all, and continued his life till a very old age. But
then, as to the affairs of his family and children, in which indeed, according
to his own opinion, he was also very fortunate, because he was able to
conquer his enemies, yet, in my opinion, he was herein very unfortunate.
2. But then Salome and Alexas, before the king's death was made known,
dismissed those that were shut up in the hippodrome, and told them that
the king ordered them to go away to their own lands, and take care of their
own affairs, which was esteemed by the nation a great benefit. And now
the king's death was made public, when Salome and Alexas gathered the soldiery
together in the amphitheater at Jericho; and the first thing they did was,
they read Herod's letter, written to the soldiery, thanking them for their
fidelity and good-will to him, and exhorting them to afford his son Archelaus,
whom he had appointed for their king, like fidelity and good-will. After
which Ptolemy, who had the king's seal intrusted to him, read the king's
testament, which was to be of force no otherwise than as it should stand
when Caesar had inspected it; so there was presently an acclamation made
to Archelaus, as king; and the soldiers came by bands, and their commanders
with them, and promised the same good-will to him, and readiness to serve
him, which they had exhibited to Herod; and they prayed God to be assistant
to him.
3. After this was over, they prepared for his funeral, it being Archelaus's
care that the procession to his father's sepulcher should be very sumptuous.
Accordingly, he brought out all his ornaments to adorn the pomp of the
funeral. The body was carried upon a golden bier, embroidered with very
precious stones of great variety, and it was covered over with purple,
as well as the body itself; he had a diadem upon his head, and above it
a crown of gold: he also had a scepter in his right hand. About the bier
were his sons and his numerous relations; next to these was the soldiery,
distinguished according to their several countries and denominations; and
they were put into the following order: First of all went his guards, then
the band of Thracians, and after them the Germans; and next the band of
Galatians, every one in their habiliments of war; and behind these marched
the whole army in the same manner as they used to go out to war, and as
they used to be put in array by their muster-masters and centurions; these
were followed by five hundred of his domestics carrying spices. So they
went eight furlongs (12)
to Herodium; for there by his own command he was to be buried. And thus
did Herod end his life.
4. Now Archelaus paid him so much respect, as to continue his mourning
till the seventh day; for so many days are appointed for it by the law
of our fathers. And when he had given a treat to the multitude, and left
off his motoring, he went up into the temple; he had also acclamations
and praises given him, which way soever he went, every one striving with
the rest who should appear to use the loudest acclamations. So he ascended
a high elevation made for him, and took his seat, in a throne made of gold,
and spake kindly to the multitude, and declared with what joy he received
their acclamations, and the marks of the good-will they showed to him;
and returned them thanks that they did not remember the injuries his father
had done them to his disadvantage; and promised them he would endeavor
not to be behindhand with them in rewarding their alacrity in his service,
after a suitable manner; but that he should abstain at present from the
name of king, and that he should have the honor of that dignity, if Caesar
should confirm and settle that testament which his father had made; and
that it was on this account, that when the army would have put the diadem
on him at Jericho, he would not accept of that honor, which is usually
so much desired, because it was not yet evident that he who was to be principally
concerned in bestowing it would give it him; although, by his acceptance
of the government, he should not want the ability of rewarding their kindness
to him and that it should be his endeavor, as to all things wherein they
were concerned, to prove in every respect better than his father. Whereupon
the multitude, as it is usual with them, supposed that the first days of
those that enter upon such governments declare the intentions of those
that accept them; and so by how much Archelaus spake the more gently and
civilly to them, by so much did they more highly commend him, and made
application to him for the grant of what they desired. Some made a clamor
that he would ease them of some of their annual payments; but others desired
him to release those that were put into prison by Herod, who were many,
and had been put there at several times; others of them required that he
would take away those taxes which had been severely laid upon what was
publicly sold and bought. So Archelaus contradicted them in nothing, since
he pretended to do all things so as to get the good-will of the multitude
to him, as looking upon that good-will to be a great step towards his preservation
of the government. Hereupon he went and offered sacrifice to God, and then
betook himself to feast with his friends.
CHAPTER 9.
HOW THE PEOPLE RAISED A SEDITION AGAINST ARCHELAUS, AND HOW
HE SAILED TO ROME.
1. AT this time also it was that some of the Jews got together out of
a desire of innovation. They lamented Matthias, and those that were slain
with him by Herod, who had not any respect paid them by a funeral mourning,
out of the fear men were in of that man; they were those who had been condemned
for pulling down the golden eagle. The people made a great clamor and lamentation
hereupon, and cast out some reproaches against the king also, as if that
tended to alleviate the miseries of the deceased. The people assembled
together, and desired of Archelaus, that, in way of revenge on their account,
he would inflict punishment on those who had been honored by Herod; and
that, in the first and principal place, he would deprive that high priest
whom Herod had made, and would choose one more agreeable to the law, and
of greater purity, to officiate as high priest. This was granted by Archelaus,
although he was mightily offended at their importunity, because he proposed
to himself to go to Rome immediately to look after Caesar's determination
about him. However, he sent the general of his forces to use persuasions,
and to tell them that the death which was inflicted on their friends was
according to the law; and to represent to them that their petitions about
these things were carried to a great height of injury to him; that the
time was not now proper for such petitions, but required their unanimity
until such time as he should be established in the government by the consent
of Caesar, and should then be come back to them; for that he would then
consult with them in common concerning the purport of their petitions;
but that they ought at present to be quiet, lest they should seem seditious
persons.
2. So when the king had suggested these things, and instructed his general
in what he was to say, be sent him away to the people; but they made a
clamor, and would not give him leave to speak, and put him in danger of
his life, and as many more as were desirous to venture upon saying openly
any thing which might reduce them to a sober mind, and prevent their going
on in their present courses, because they had more concern to have all
their own wills performed than to yield obedience to their governors; thinking
it to be a thing insufferable, that, while Herod was alive, they should
lose those that were most dear to them, and that when he was dead, they
could not get the actors to be punished. So they went on with their designs
after a violent manner, and thought all to be lawful and right which tended
to please them, and being unskillful in foreseeing what dangers they incurred;
and when they had suspicion of such a thing, yet did the present pleasure
they took in the punishment of those they deemed their enemies overweigh
all such considerations; and although Archelaus sent many to speak to them,
yet they treated them not as messengers sent by him, but as persons that
came of their own accord to mitigate their anger, and would not let one
of them speak. The sedition also was made by such as were in a great passion;
and it was evident that they were proceeding further in seditious practices,
by the multitude running so fast upon them.
3. Now, upon the approach of that feast of unleavened bread, which the
law of their fathers had appointed for the Jews at this time, which feast
is called the Passover (13)
and is a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt, when they offer sacrifices
with great alacrity; and when they are required to slay more sacrifices
in number than at any other festival; and when an innumerable multitude
came thither out of the country, nay, from beyond its limits also, in order
to worship God, the seditious lamented Judas and Matthias, those teachers
of the laws, and kept together in the temple, and had plenty of food, because
these seditious persons were not ashamed to beg it. And as Archelaus was
afraid lest some terrible thing should spring up by means of these men's
madness, he sent a regiment of armed men, and with them a captain of a
thousand, to suppress the violent efforts of the seditious before the whole
multitude should be infected with the like madness; and gave them this
charge, that if they found any much more openly seditious than others,
and more busy in tumultuous practices, they should bring them to him. But
those that were seditious on account of those teachers of the law, irritated
the people by the noise and clamors they used to encourage the people in
their designs; so they made an assault upon the soldiers, and came up to
them, and stoned the greatest part of them, although some of them ran away
wounded, and their captain among them; and when they had thus done, they
returned to the sacrifices which were already in their hands. Now Archelaus
thought there was no way to preserve the entire government but by cutting
off those who made this attempt upon it; so he sent out the whole army
upon them, and sent the horsemen to prevent those that had their tents
without the temple from assisting those that were within the temple, and
to kill such as ran away from the footmen when they thought themselves
out of danger; which horsemen slew three thousand men, while the rest went
to the neighboring mountains. Then did Archelaus order proclamation to
be made to them all, that they should retire to their own homes; so they
went away, and left the festival, out of fear of somewhat worse which would
follow, although they had been so bold by reason of their want of instruction.
So Archelaus went down to the sea with his mother, and took with him Nicolaus
and Ptolemy, and many others of his friends, and left Philip his brother
as governor of all things belonging both to his own family and to the public.
There went out also with him Salome, Herod's sister who took with her,
her children, and many of her kindred were with her; which kindred of hers
went, as they pretended, to assist Archelaus in gaining the kingdom, but
in reality to oppose him, and chiefly to make loud complaints of what he
had done in the temple. But Sabinus, Caesar's steward for Syrian affairs,
as he was making haste into Judea to preserve Herod's effects, met with
Archclaus at Caesarea; but Varus (president of Syria) came at that time,
and restrained him from meddling with them, for he was there as sent for
by Archceaus, by the means of Ptolemy. And Sabinus, out of regard to Varus,
did neither seize upon any of the castles that were among the Jews, nor
did he seal up the treasures in them, but permitted Archelaus to have them,
until Caesar should declare his resolution about them; so that, upon this
his promise, he tarried still at Cesarea. But after Archelaus was sailed
for Rome, and Varus was removed to Antioch, Sabinus went to Jerusalem,
and seized on the king's palace. He also sent for the keepers of the garrisons,
and for all those that had the charge of Herod's effects, and declared
publicly that he should require them to give an account of what they had;
and he disposed of the castles in the manner he pleased; but those who
kept them did not neglect what Archelaus had given them in command, but
continued to keep all things in the manner that had been enjoined them;
and their pretense was, that they kept them all for Caesar,
4. At the same time also did Antipas, another of Herod's sons, sail
to Rome, in order to gain the government; being buoyed up by Salome with
promises that he should take that government; and that he was a much honester
and fitter man than Archelaus for that authority, since Herod had, in his
former testament, deemed him the worthiest to be made king, which ought
to be esteemed more valid than his latter testament. Antipas also brought
with him his mother, and Ptolemy the brother of Nicolaus, one that had
been Herod's most honored friend, and was now zealous for Antipas; but
it was Ireneus the orator, and one who, on account of his reputation for
sagacity, was intrusted with the affairs of the kingdom, who most of all
encouraged him to attempt to gain the kingdom; by whose means it was, that
when some advised him to yield to Archelaus, as to his elder brother, and
who had been declared king by their father's last will, he would not submit
so to do. And when he was come to Rome, all his relations revolted to him;
not out of their good-will to him, but out of their hatred to Archelaus;
though indeed they were most of all desirous of gaining their liberty,
and to be put under a Roman governor; but if there were too great an opposition
made to that, they thought Antipas preferable to Archelaus, and so joined
with him, in order to procure the kingdom for him. Sabinus also, by letters,
accused Archelaus to Caesar.
5. Now when Archelaus had sent in his papers to Caesar, wherein he pleaded
his right to. the kingdom, and his father's testament, with the accounts
of Herod's money, and with Ptolemy, who brought Herod's seal, he so expected
the event; but when Caesar had read these papers, and Varus's and Sabinus's
letters, with the accounts of the money, and what were the annual incomes
of the kingdom, and understood that Antipas had also sent letters to lay
claim to the kingdom, he summoned his friends together, to know their opinions,
and with them Caius, the son of Agrippa, and of Julia his daughter, whom
he had adopted, and took him, and made him sit first of all, and desired
such as pleased to speak their minds about the affairs now before them.
Now Antipater, Salome's son, a very subtle orator, and a bitter enemy to
Archelaus, spake first to this purpose: That it was ridiculous in Archelaus
to plead now to have the kingdom given him, since he had, in reality, taken
already the power over it to himself, before Caesar had granted it to him;
and appealed to those bold actions of his, in destroying so many at the
Jewish festival; and if the men had acted unjustly, it was but fit the
punishing of them should have been reserved to those that were out of the
country, but had the power to punish them, and not been executed by a man
that, if he pretended to be a king, he did an injury to Caesar, by usurping
that authority before it was determined for him by Caesar; but if he owned
himself to be a private person, his case was much worse, since he who was
putting in for the kingdom could by no means expect to have that power
granted him, of which he had already deprived Caesar [by taking it to himself].
He also touched sharply upon him, and appealed to his changing the commanders
in the army, and his sitting in the royal throne beforehand, and his determination
of law-suits; all done as if he were no other than a king. He appealed
also to his concessions to those that petitioned him on a public account,
and indeed doing such things, than which he could devise no greater if
he had been already settled in the kingdom by Caesar. He also ascribed
to him the releasing of the prisoners that were in the hippodrome, and
many other things, that either had been certainly done by him, or were
believed to be done, and easily might be believed to have been done, because
they were of such a nature as to be usually done by young men, and by such
as, out of a desire of ruling, seize upon the government too soon. He also
charged him with his neglect of the funeral mourning for his father, and
with having merry meetings the very night in which he died; and that it
was thence the multitude took the handle of raising a tumult: and if Archelaus
could thus requite his dead father, who had bestowed such benefits upon
him, and bequeathed such great things to him, by pretending to shed tears
for him in the day time, like an actor on the stage, but every night making
mirth for having gotten the government, he would appear to be the same
Archelaus with regard to Caesar, if he granted him the kingdom, which he
hath been to his father; since he had then dancing and singing, as though
an enemy of his were fallen, and not as though a man were carried to his
funeral, that was so nearly related, and had been so great a benefactor
to him. But he said that the greatest crime of all was this, that he came
now before Caesar to obtain the government by his grant, while he had before
acted in all things as he could have acted if Caesar himself, who ruled
all, had fixed him firmly in the government. And what he most aggravated
in his pleading was the slaughter of those about the temple, and the impiety
of it, as done at the festival; and how they were slain like sacrifices
themselves, some of whom were foreigners, and others of their own country,
till the temple was full of dead bodies: and all this was done, not by
an alien, but by one who pretended to the lawful title of a king, that
he might complete the wicked tyranny which his nature prompted him to,
and which is hated by all men. On which account his father never so much
as dreamed of making him his successor in the kingdom, when he was of a
sound mind, because he knew his disposition; and in his former and more
authentic testament, he appointed his antagonist Antipas to succeed; but
that Archelaus was called by his father to that dignity when he was in
a dying condition, both of body and mind; while Antipas was called when
he was ripest in his judgment, and of such strength of body as made him
capable of managing his own affairs: and if his father had the like notion
of him formerly that he hath now showed, yet hath he given a sufficient
specimen what a king he is likely to be, when he hath [in effect] deprived
Caesar of that power of disposing of the kingdom, which he justly hath,
and hath not abstained from making a terrible slaughter of his fellow citizens
in the temple, while lie was but a private person.
6. So when Antipater had made this speech, and had confirmed what he
had said by producing many witnesses from among Archelaus's own relations,
he made an end of his pleading. Upon which Nicolaus arose up to plead for
Archelaus, and said, "That what had been done at the temple was rather
to be attributed to the mind of those that had been killed, than to the
authority of Archelaus; for that those who were the authors of such things
are not only wicked in the injuries they do of themselves, but in forcing
sober persons to avenge themselves upon them. Now it is evident that what
these did in way of opposition was done under pretense, indeed, against
Archelaus, but in reality against Caesar himself, for they, after an injurious
manner, attacked and slew those who were sent by Archelaus, and who came
only to put a stop to their doings. They had no regard, either to God or
to the festival, whom Antipater yet is not ashamed to patronize, whether
it be out of his indulgence of an enmity to Archelaus, or out of his hatred
of virtue and justice. For as to those who begin such tumults, and first
set about such unrighteous actions, they are the men who force those that
punish them to betake themselves to arms even against their will. So that
Antipater in effect ascribes the rest of what was done to all those who
were of counsel to the accusers; for nothing which is here accused of injustice
has been done but what was derived from them as its authors; nor are those
things evil in themselves, but so represented only in order to do harm
to Archelaus. Such is these men's inclination to do an injury to a man
that is of their kindred, their father's benefactor, and familiarity acquainted
with them, and that hath ever lived in friendship with them; for that,
as to this testament, it was made by the king when he was of a sound mind,
and so ought to be of more authority than his former testament; and that
for this reason, because Caesar is therein left to be the judge and disposer
of all therein contained; and for Caesar, he will not, to be sure, at all
imitate the unjust proceedings of those men, who, during Herod's whole
life, had on all occasions been joint partakers of power with him, and
yet do zealously endeavor to injure his determination, while they have
not themselves had the same regard to their kinsman [which Archelaus had].
Caesar will not therefore disannul the testament of a man whom he had entirely
supported, of his friend and confederate, and that which is committed to
him in trust to ratify; nor will Caesar's virtuous and upright disposition,
which is known and uncontested through all the habitable world, imitate
the wickedness of these men in condemning a king as a madman, and as having
lost his reason, while he hath bequeathed the succession to a good son
of his, and to one who flies to Caesar's upright determination for refuge.
Nor can Herod at any time have been mistaken in his judgment about a successor,
while he showed so much prudence as to submit all to Caesar's determination."
7. Now when Nicolaus had laid these things before Caesar, he ended his
plea; whereupon Caesar was so obliging to Archelaus, that he raised him
up when he had cast himself down at his feet, and said that he well deserved
the kingdom; and he soon let them know that he was so far moved in his
favor, that he would not act otherwise than his father's testament directed,
and than was for the advantage of Archelaus. However, while he gave this
encouragement to Archelaus to depend on him securely, he made no full determination
about him; and when the assembly was broken up, he considered by himself
whether he should confirm the kingdom to Archelaus, or whether he should
part it among all Herod's posterity; and this because they all stood in
need of much assistance to support them.
CHAPTER 10.
A SEDITION AGAINST SABINUS; AND HOW VARUS BROUGHT THE AUTHORS
OF IT TO PUNISHMENT.
1. BUT before these things could be brought to a settlement, Malthace,
Archelaus's mother, fell into a distemper, and died of it; and letters
came from Varus, the president of Syria, which informed Caesar of the revolt
of the Jews; for after Archlaus was sailed, the whole nation was in a tumult.
So Varus, since he was there himself, brought the authors of the disturbance
to punishment; and when he had restrained them for the most part from this
sedition, which was a great one, he took his journey to Antiocli, leaving
one legion of his army at Jerusalem to keep the Jews quiet, who were now
very fond of innovation. Yet did not this at all avail to put an end to
that their sedition; for after Varus was gone away, Sabinus, Caesar's procurator,
staid behind, and greatly distressed the Jews, relying on the forces that
were left there that they would by their multitude protect him; for he
made use of them, and armed them as his guards, thereby so oppressing the
Jews, and giving them so great disturbance, that at length they rebelled;
for he used force in seizing the citadels, and zealously pressed on the
search after the king's money, in order to seize upon it by force, on account
of his love of gain and his extraordinary covetousness.
2. But on the approach of pentecost, which is a festival of ours, so
called from the days of our forefathers, a great many ten thousands of
men got together; nor did they come only to celebrate the festival, but
out of their indignation at the madness of Sabinus, and at the injuries
he offered them. A great number there was of Galileans, and Idumeans, and
many men from Jericho, and others who had passed over the river Jordan,
and inhabited those parts. This whole multitude joined themselves to all
the rest, and were more zealous than the others in making an assault on
Sabinus, in order to be avenged on him; so they parted themselves into
three bands, and encamped themselves in the places following: - some of
them seized on the hippodrome and of the other two bands, one pitched themselves
from the northern part of the temple to the southern, on the east quarter;
but the third band held the western part of the city, where the king's
palace was. Their work tended entirely to besiege the Romans, and to enclose
them on all sides. Now Sabinus was afraid of these men's number, and of
their resolution, who had little regard to their lives, but were very desirous
not to be overcome, while they thought it a point of puissance to overcome
their enemies; so he sent immediately a letter to Varus, and, as he used
to do, was very pressing with him, and entreated him to come quickly to
his assistance, because the forces he had left were in imminent danger,
and would probably, in no long time, be seized upon, and cut to pieces;
while he did himself get up to the highest tower of the fortress Phasaelus,
which had been built in honor of Phasaelus, king Herod's brother, and called
so when the Parthians had brought him to his death. (14)
So Sabinus gave thence a signal to the Romans to fall upon the Jews, although
he did not himself venture so much as to come down to his friends, and
thought he might expect that the others should expose themselves first
to die on account of his avarice. However, the Romans ventured to make
a sally out of the place, and a terrible battle ensued; wherein, though
it is true the Romans beat their adversaries, yet were not the Jews daunted
in their resolutions, even when they had the sight of that terrible slaughter
that was made of them; but they went round about, and got upon those cloisters
which encompassed the outer court of the temple, where a great fight was
still continued, and they cast stones at the Romans, partly with their
hands, and partly with slings, as being much used to those exercises. All
the archers also in array did the Romans a great deal of mischief, because
they used their hands dexterously from a place superior to the others,
and because the others were at an utter loss what to do; for when they
tried to shoot their arrows against the Jews upwards, these arrows could
not reach them, insomuch that the Jews were easily too hard for their enemies.
And this sort of fight lasted a great while, till at last the Romans, who
were greatly distressed by what was done, set fire to the cloisters so
privately, that those that were gotten upon them did not perceive it. This
fire (15)
being fed by a great deal of combustible matter, caught hold immediately
on the roof of the cloisters; so the wood, which was full of pitch and
wax, and whose gold was laid on it with wax, yielded to the flame presently,
and those vast works, which were of the highest value and esteem, were
destroyed utterly, while those that were on the roof unexpectedly perished
at the same time; for as the roof tumbled down, some of these men tumbled
down with it, and others of them were killed by their enemies who encompassed
them. There was a great number more, who, out of despair of saving their
lives, and out of astonishment at the misery that surrounded them, did
either cast themselves into the fire, or threw themselves upon their swords,
and so got out of their misery. But as to those that retired behind the
same way by which they ascended, and thereby escaped, they were all killed
by the Romans, as being unarmed men, and their courage failing them; their
wild fury being now not able to help them, because they were destitute
of armor, insomuch that of those that went up to the top of the roof, not
one escaped. The Romans also rushed through the fire, where it gave them
room so to do, and seized on that treasure where the sacred money was reposited;
a great part of which was stolen by the soldiers, and Sabinus got openly
four hundred talents.
3. But this calamity of the Jews' friends, who fell in this battle,
grieved them, as did also this plundering of the money dedicated to God
in the temple. Accordingly, that body of them which continued best together,
and was the most warlike, encompassed the palace, and threatened to set
fire to it, and kill all that were in it. Yet still they commanded them
to go out presently, and promised, that if they would do so, they would
not hurt them, nor Sabinus neither; at which time the greatest part of
the king's troops deserted to them, while Rufus and Gratus, who had three
thousand of the most warlike of Herod's army with them, who were men of
active bodies, went over to the Romans. There was also a band of horsemen
under the command of Ruffis, which itself went over to the Romans also.
However, the Jews went on with the siege, and dug mines under the palace
walls, and besought those that were gone over to the other side not to
be their hinderance, now they had such a proper opportunity for the recovery
of their country's ancient liberty; and for Sabinus, truly he was desirous
of going away with his soldiers, but was not able to trust himself with
the enemy, on account of what mischief he had already done them; and he
took this great [pretended] lenity of theirs for an argument why he should
not comply with them; and so, because he expected that Varus was coming,
he still bore the siege.
4. Now at this time there were ten thousand other disorders in Judea,
which were like tumults, because a great number put themselves into a warlike
posture, either out of hopes of gain to themselves, or out of enmity to
the Jews. In particular, two thousand of Herod's old soldiers, who had
been already disbanded, got together in Judea itself, and fought against
the king's troops, although Achiabus, Herod's first cousin, opposed them;
but as he was driven out of the plains into the mountainous parts by the
military skill of those men, he kept himself in the fastnesses that were
there, and saved what he could.
5. There was also Judas, (16)
the son of that Ezekias who had been head of the robbers; which Ezekias
was a very strong man, and had with great dificulty been caught by Herod.
This Judas, having gotten together a multitude of men of a profligate character
about Sepphoris in Galilee, made an assault upon the palace [there,] and
seized upon all the weapons that were laid up in it, and with them armed
every one of those that were with him, and carried away what money was
left there; and he became terrible to all men, by tearing and rending those
that came near him; and all this in order to raise himself, and out of
an ambitious desire of the royal dignity; and he hoped to obtain that as
the reward not of his virtuous skill in war, but of his extravagance in
doing injuries.
6. There was also Simon, who had been a slave of Herod the king, but
in other respects a comely person, of a tall and robust body; he was one
that was much superior to others of his order, and had had great things
committed to his care. This man was elevated at the disorderly state of
things, and was so bold as to put a diadem on his head, while a certain
number of the people stood by him, and by them he was declared to be a
king, and thought himself more worthy of that dignity than any one else.
He burnt down the royal palace at Jericho, and plundered what was left
in it. He also set fire to many other of the king's houses in several places
of the country, and utterly destroyed them, and permitted those that were
with him to take what was left in them for a prey; and he would have done
greater things, unless care had been taken to repress him immediately;
for Gratus, when he had joined himself to some Roman soldiers, took the
forces he had with him, and met Simon, and after a great and a long fight,
no small part of those that came from Perea, who were a disordered body
of men, and fought rather in a bold than in a skillful manner, were destroyed;
and although Simon had saved himself by flying away through a certain valley,
yet Gratus overtook him, and cut off his head. The royal palace also at
Amathus, by the river Jordan, was burnt down by a party of men that were
got together, as were those belonging to Simon. And thus did a great and
wild fury spread itself over the nation, because they had no king to keep
the multitude in good order, and because those foreigners who came to reduce
the seditious to sobriety did, on the contrary, set them more in a flame,
because of the injuries they offered them, and the avaricious management
of their affairs.
7. But because Athronges, a person neither eminent by the dignity of
his progenitors, nor for any great wealth he was possessed of, but one
that had in all respects been a shepherd only, and was not known by any
body; yet because he was a tall man, and excelled others in the strength
of his hands, he was so bold as to set up for king. This man thought it
so sweet a thing to do more than ordinary injuries to others, that although
he should be killed, he did not much care if he lost his life in so great
a design. He had also four brethren, who were tall men themselves, and
were believed to be superior to others in the strength of their hands,
and thereby were encouraged to aim at great things, and thought that strength
of theirs would support them in retaining the kingdom. Each of these ruled
over a band of men of their own; for those that got together to them were
very numerous. They were every one of them also commanders; but when they
came to fight, they were subordinate to him, and fought for him, while
he put a diadem about his head, and assembled a council to debate about
what things should be done, and all things were done according to his pleasure.
And this man retained his power a great while; he was also called king,
and had nothing to hinder him from doing what he pleased. He also, as well
as his brethren, slew a great many both of the Romans and of the king's
forces, an managed matters with the like hatred to each of them. The king's
forces they fell upon, because of the licentious conduct they had been
allowed under Herod's government; and they fell upon the Romans, because
of the injuries they had so lately received from them. But in process of
time they grew more cruel to all sorts of men, nor could any one escape
from one or other of these seditions, since they slew some out of the hopes
of gain, and others from a mere custom of slaying men. They once attacked
a company of Romans at Emmaus, who were bringing corn and weapons to the
army, and fell upon Arius, the centurion, who commanded the company, and
shot forty of the best of his foot soldiers; but the rest of them were
aftrighted at their slaughter, and left their dead behind them, but saved
themselves by the means of Gratus, who came with the king's troops that
were about him to their assistance. Now these four brethren continued the
war a long while by such sort of expeditions, and much grieved the Romans;
but did their own nation also a great deal of mischief. Yet were they afterwards
subdued; one of them in a fight with Gratus, another with Ptolemy; Archelaus
also took the eldest of them prisoner; while the last of them was so dejected
at the other's misfortune, and saw so plainly that he had no way now left
to save himself, his army being worn away with sickness and continual labors,
that he also delivered himself up to Archclaus, upon his promise and oath
to God [to preserve his life.] But these things came to pass a good while
afterward.
8. And now Judea was full of robberies; and as the several companies
of the seditious lighted upon any one to head them, he was created a king
immediately, in order to do mischief to the public. They were in some small
measure indeed, and in small matters, hurtful to the Romans; but the murders
they committed upon their own people lasted a long while.
9. As soon as Varus was once informed of the state of Judea by Sabinus's
writing to him, he was afraid for the legion he had left there; so he took
the two other legions, (for there were three legions in all belonging to
Syria,) and four troops of horsemen, with the several auxiliary forces
which either the kings or certain of the tetrarchs afforded him, and made
what haste he could to assist those that were then besieged in Judea. He
also gave order that all that were sent out for this expedition, should
make haste to Ptolemais. The citizens of Berytus also gave him fifteen
hundred auxiliaries as he passed through their city. Aretas also, the king
of Arabia Petrea, out of his hatred to Herod, and in order to purchase
the favor of the Romans, sent him no small assistance, besides their footmen
and horsemen; and when he had now collected all his forces together, he
committed part of them to his son, and to a friend of his, and sent them
upon an expedition into Galilee, which lies in the neighborhood of Ptolemais;
who made an attack upon the enemy, and put them to flight, and took Sepphoris,
and made its inhabitants slaves, and burnt the city. But Varus himself
pursued his march for Samaria with his whole army; yet did not he meddle
with the city of that name, because it had not at all joined with the seditious;
but pitched his camp at a certain village that belonged to Ptolemy, whose
name was Arus, which the Arabians burnt, out of their hatred to Herod,
and out of the enmity they bore to his friends; whence they marched to
another village, whose name was Sampho, which the Arabians plundered and
burnt, although it was a fortified and a strong place; and all along this
march nothing escaped them, but all places were full of fire and of slaughter.
Emmaus was also burnt by Varus's order, after its inhabitants had deserted
it, that he might avenge those that had there been destroyed. From thence
he now marched to Jerusalem; whereupon those Jews whose camp lay there,
and who had besieged the Roman legion, not bearing the coming of this army,
left the siege imperfect: but as to the Jerusalem Jews, when Varus reproached
them bitterly for what had been done, they cleared themselves of the accusation,
and alleged that the conflux of the people was occasioned by the feast;
that the war was not made with their approbation, but by the rashness of
the strangers, while they were on the side of the Romans, and besieged
together with them, rather than having any inclination to besiege them.
There also came beforehand to meet Varus, Joseph, the cousin-german of
king Herod, as also Gratus and Rufus, who brought their soldiers along
with them, together with those Romans who had been besieged; but Sabinus
did not come into Varus's presence, but stole out of the city privately,
and went to the sea-side.
10. Upon this, Varus sent a part of his army into the country, to seek
out those that had been the authors of the revolt; and when they were discovered,
he punished some of them that were most guilty, and some he dismissed:
now the number of those that were crucified on this account were two thousand.
After which he disbanded his army, which he found no way useful to him
in the affairs he came about; for they behaved themselves very disorderly,
and disobeyed his orders, and what Varus desired them to do, and this out
of regard to that gain which they made by the mischief they did. As for
himself, when he was informed that ten thousand Jews had gotten together,
he made haste to catch them; but they did not proceed so far as to fight
him, but, by the advice of Achiabus, they came together, and delivered
themselves up to him: hereupon Varus forgave the crime of revolting to
the multitude, but sent their several commanders to Caesar, many of whom
Caesar dismissed; but for the several relations of Herod who had been among
these men in this war, they were the only persons whom he punished, who,
without the least regard to justice, fought against their own kindred.
CHAPTER 11.
AN EMBASSAGE TO CAESAR; AND HOW CAESAR CONFIRMED HEROD'S
TESTAMENT.
1. SO when Varus had settled these affairs, and had placed the former
legion at Jerusalem, he returned back to Antioch; but as for Archelaus,
he had new sources of trouble come upon him at Rome, on the occasions following:
for an embassage of the Jews was come to Rome, Varus having permitted the
nation to send it, that they might petition for the liberty of living by
their own laws. (17)
Now the number of the ambassadors that were sent by the authority of the
nation were fifty, to which they joined above eight thousand of the Jews
that were at Rome already. Hereupon Caesar assembled his friends, and the
chief men among the Romans, in the temple of Apollo, (18)
which he had built at a vast charge; whither the ambassadors came, and
a multitude of the Jews that were there already came with them, as did
also Archelaus and his friends; but as for the several kinsmen which Archelaus
had, they would not join themselves with him, out of their hatred to him;
and yet they thought it too gross a thing for them to assist the ambassadors
[against him], as supposing it would be a disgrace to them in Caesar's
opinion to think of thus acting in opposition to a man of their own kindred.
Philip (19)
also was come hither out of Syria, by the persuasion of Varus, with this
principal intention to assist his brother [Archelaus]; for Varus was his
great friend: but still so, that if there should any change happen in the
form of government, (which Varus suspected there would,) and if any distribution
should be made on account of the number that desired the liberty of living
by their own laws, that he might not be disappointed, but might have his
share in it.
2. Now upon the liberty that was given to the Jewish ambassadors to
speak, they who hoped to obtain a dissolution of kingly government betook
themselves to accuse Herod of his iniquities; and they declared that he
was indeed in name a king, but that he had taken to himself that uncontrollable
authority which tyrants exercise over their subjects, and had made use
of that authority for the destruction of the Jews, and did not abstain
from making many innovations among them besides, according to his own inclinations;
and that whereas there were a great many who perished by that destruction
he brought upon them, so many indeed as no other history relates, they
that survived were far more miserable than those that suffered under him;
not only by the anxiety they were in from his looks and disposition towards
them, but from the danger their estates were in of being taken away by
him. That he did never leave off adorning these cities that lay in their
neighborhood, but were inhabited by foreigners; but so that the cities
belonging to his own government were ruined, and utterly destroyed that
whereas, when he took the kingdom, it was in an extraordinary flourishing
condition, he had filled the nation with the utmost degree of poverty;
and when, upon unjust pretenses, he had slain any of the nobility, he took
away their estates; and when he permitted any of them to live, he condemned
them to the forfeiture of what they possessed. And besides the annual impositions
which he laid upon every one of them, they were to make liberal presents
to himself, to his domestics and friends, and to such of his slaves as
were vouchsafed the favor of being his tax-gatherers, because there was
no way of obtaining a freedom from unjust violence without giving either
gold or silver for it. That they would say nothing of the corruption of
the chastity of their virgins, and the reproach laid on their wives for
incontinency, and those things acted after an insolent and inhuman manner;
because it was not a smaller pleasure to the sufferers to have such things
concealed, than it would have been not to have suffered them. That Herod
had put such abuses upon them as a wild beast would not have put on them,
if he had power given him to rule over us; and that although their nation
had passed through many subversions and alterations of government, their
history gave no account of any calamity they had ever been under, that
could be compared with this which Herod had brought upon their nation;
that it was for this reason that they thought they might justly and gladly
salute Archelaus as king, upon this supposition, that whosoever should
be set over their kingdom, he would appear more mild to them than Herod
had been; and that they had joined with him in the mourning for his father,
in order to gratify him, and were ready to oblige him in other points also,
if they could meet with any degree of moderation from him; but that he
seemed to be afraid lest he should not be deemed Herod's own son; and so,
without any delay, he immediately let the nation understand his meaning,
and this before his dominion was well established, since the power of disposing
of it belonged to Caesar, who could either give it to him or not, as he
pleased. That he had given a specimen of his future virtue to his subjects,
and with what kind of moderation and good administration he would govern
them, by that his first action, which concerned them, his own citizens,
and God himself also, when he made the slaughter of three thousand of his
own countrymen at the temple. How then could they avoid the just hatred
of him, who, to the rest of his barbarity, hath added this as one of our
crimes, that we have opposed and contradicted him in the exercise of his
authority? Now the main thing they desired was this: That they might be
delivered from kingly and the like forms of government, (20)
and might be added to Syria, and be put under the authority of such presidents
of theirs as should be sent to them; for that it would thereby be made
evident, whether they be really a seditious people, and generally fond
of innovations, or whether they would live in an orderly manner, if they
might have governors of any sort of moderation set over them.
3. Now when the Jews had said this, Nicolaus vindicated the kings from
those accusations, and said, that as for Herod, since he had never been
thus accused all the time of his life, it was not fit for those that might
have accused him of lesser crimes than those now mentioned, and might have
procured him to be punished during his lifetime, to bring an accusation
against him now he is dead. He also attributed the actions of Archlaus
to the Jews' injuries to him, who, affecting to govern contrary to the
laws, and going about to kill those that would have hindered them from
acting unjustly, when they were by him punished for what they had done,
made their complaints against him; so he accused them of their attempts
for innovation, and of the pleasure they took in sedition, by reason of
their not having learned to submit to justice and to the laws, but still
desiring to be superior in all things. This was the substance of what Nicolaus
said.
4. When Caesar had heard these pleadings, he dissolved the assembly;
but a few days afterwards he appointed Archelaus, not indeed to be king
of the whole country, but ethnarch of the one half of that which had been
subject to Herod, and promised to give him the royal dignity hereafter,
if he governed his part virtuously. But as for the other half, he divided
it into two parts, and gave it to two other of Herod's sons, to Philip
and to Antipas, that Antipas who disputed with Archelaus for the whole
kingdom. Now to him it was that Peres and Galilee paid their tribute, which
amounted annually to two hundred talents, (21)
while Batanea, with Trachonitis, as well as Auranitis, with a certain part
of what was called the House of Zenodorus, (22)
paid the tribute of one hundred talents to Philip; but Idumea, and Judea,
and the country of Samaria paid tribute to Archelaus, but had now a fourth
part of that tribute taken off by the order of Caesar, who decreed them
that mitigation, because they did not join in this revolt with the rest
of the multitude. There were also certain of the cities which paid tribute
to Archelaus: Strato's Tower and Sebaste, with Joppa and Jerusalem; for
as to Gaza, and Gadara, and Hippos, they were Grecian cities, which Caesar
separated from his government, and added them to the province of Syria.
Now the tribute-money that came to Archelaus every year from his own dominions
amounted to six hundred talents.
5. And so much came to Herod's sons from their father's inheritance.
But Salome, besides what her brother left her by his testament, which were
Jamnia, and Ashdod, and Phasaelis, and five hundred thousand [drachmae]
of coined silver, Caesar made her a present of a royal habitation at Askelo;
in all, her revenues amounted to sixty talents by the year, and her dwelling-house
was within Archelaus's government. The rest also of the king's relations
received what his testament allotted them. Moreover, Caesar made a present
to each of Herod's two virgin daughters, besides what their father left
them, of two hundred and fifty thousand [drachmae] of silver, and married
them to Pheroras's sons: he also granted all that was bequeathed to himself
to the king's sons, which was one thousand five hundred talents, excepting
a few of the vessels, which he reserved for himself; and they were acceptable
to him, not so much for the great value they were of, as because they were
memorials of the king to him.
CHAPTER 12.
CONCERNING A SPURIOUS ALEXANDER.
1. WHEN these affairs had been thus settled by Caesar, a certain young
man, by birth a Jew, but brought up by a Roman freed-man in the city Sidon,
ingrafted himself into the kindred of Herod, by the resemblance of his
countenance, which those that saw him attested to be that of Alexander,
the son of Herod, whom he had slain; and this was an incitement to him
to endeavor to obtain the government; so he took to him as an assistant
a man of his own country, (one that was well acquainted with the affairs
of the palace, but, on other accounts, an ill man, and one whose nature
made him capable of causing great disturbances to the public, and one that
became a teacher of such a mischievous contrivance to the other,) and declared
himself to be Alexander, and the son of Herod, but stolen away. by one
of those that were sent to slay him, who, in reality, slew other men, in
order to deceive the spectators, but saved both him and his brother Aristobulus.
Thus was this man elated, and able to impose on those that came to him;
and when he was come to Crete, he made all the Jews that came to discourse
with him believe him [to be Alexander]. And when he had gotten much money
which had been presented to him there, he passed over to Melos, where he
got much more money than he had before, out of the belief they had that
he was of the royal family, and their hopes that he would recover his father's
principality, and reward his benefactors; so he made haste to Rome, and
was conducted thither by those strangers who entertained him. He was also
so fortunate, as, upon his landing at Dicearchia, to bring the Jews that
were there into the same delusion; and not only other people, but also
all those that had been great with Herod, or had a kindness for him, joined
themselves to this man as to their king. The cause of it was this, that
men were glad of his pretenses, which were seconded by the likeness of
his countenance, which made those that had been acquainted with Alexander
strongly to believe that he was no other but the very same person, which
they also confirmed to others by oath; insomuch that when the report went
about him that he was coming to Rome, the whole multitude of the Jews that
were there went out to meet him, ascribing it to Divine Providence that
he has so unexpectedly escaped, and being very joyful on account of his
mother's family. And when he was come, he was carried in a royal litter
through the streets; and all the ornaments about him were such as kings
are adorned withal; and this was at the expense of those that entertained
him. The multitude also flocked about him greatly, and made mighty acclamations
to him, and nothing was omitted which could be thought suitable to such
as had been so unexpectedly preserved.
2. When this thing was told Caesar, he did not believe it, because Herod
was not easily to be imposed upon in such affairs as were of great concern
to him; yet, having some suspicion it might be so, he sent one Celadus,
a freed-man of his, and one that had conversed with the young men themselves,
and bade him bring Alexander into his presence; so he brought him, being
no more accurate in judging about him than the rest of the multitude. Yet
did not he deceive Caesar; for although there was a resemblance between
him and Alexander, yet was it not so exact as to impose on such as were
prudent in discerning; for this spurious Alexander had his hands rough,
by the labors he had been put to and instead of that softness of body which
the other had, and this as derived from his delicate and generous education,
this man, for the contrary reason, had a rugged body. When, therefore,
Caesar saw how the master and the scholar agreed in this lying story, and
in a bold way of talking, he inquired about Aristobulus, and asked what
became of him who (it seems) was stolen away together with him, and for
what reason it was that he did not come along with him, and endeavor to
recover that dominion which was due to his high birth also. And when he
said that he had been left in the isle of Crete, for fear of the dangers
of the sea, that, in case any accident should come to himself, the posterity
of Mariamne might not utterly perish, but that Aristobulus might survive,
and punish those that laid such treacherous designs against them; and when
he persevered in his affirmations, and the author of the imposture agreed
in supporting it, Caesar took the young man by himself, and said to him,
"If thou wilt not impose upon me, thou shalt have this for thy reward,
that thou shalt escape with thy life; tell me, then, who thou art, and
who it was that had boldness enough to contrive such a cheat as this. For
this contrivance is too considerable a piece of villainy to be undertaken
by one of thy age." Accordingly, because he had no other way to take,
he told Caesar the contrivance, and after what manner and by whom it was
laid together. So Caesar, upon observing the spurious Alexander to be a
strong active man, and fit to work with his hands, that he might not break
his promise to him, put him among those that were to row among the mariners,
but slew him that induced him to do what he had done; for as for the people
of Melos, he thought them sufficiently punished, in having thrown away
so much of their money upon this spurious Alexander. And such was the ignominious
conclusion of this bold contrivance about the spurious Alexander.
CHAPTER 13.
HOW ARCHELAUS UPON A SECOND ACCUSATION, WAS BANISHED TO VIENNA.
1. WHEN Archelaus was entered on his ethnarchy, and was come into Judea,
he accused Joazar, the son of Boethus, of assisting the seditious, and
took away the high priesthood from him, and put Eleazar his brother in
his place. He also magnificently rebuilt the royal palace that had been
at Jericho, and he diverted half the water with which the village of Neara
used to be watered, and drew off that water into the plain, to water those
palm trees which he had there planted: he also built a village, and put
his own name upon it, and called it Archelais. Moreover, he transgressed
the law of our fathers (23)
and married Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, who had been the wife
of his brother Alexander, which Alexander had three children by her, while
it was a thing detestable among the Jews to marry the brother's wife. Nor
did this Eleazar abide long in the high priesthood, Jesus, the son of Sie,
being put in his room while he was still living.
2. But in the tenth year of Archelaus's government, both his brethren,
and the principal men of Judea and Samaria, not being able to bear his
barbarous and tyrannical usage of them, accused him before Caesar, and
that especially because they knew he had broken the commands of Caesar,
which obliged him to behave himself with moderation among them. Whereupon
Caesar, when he heard it, was very angry, and called for Archelaus's steward,
who took care of his affairs at Rome, and whose name was Archelaus also;
and thinking it beneath him to write to Archelaus, he bid him sail away
as soon as possible, and bring him to us: so the man made haste in his
voyage, and when he came into Judea, he found Archelaus feasting with his
friends; so he told him what Caesar had sent him about, and hastened him
away. And when he was come [to Rome], Caesar, upon hearing what certain
accusers of his had to say, and what reply he could make, both banished
him, and appointed Vienna, a city of Gaul, to be the place of his habitation,
and took his money away from him.
3. Now, before Archelaus was gone up to Rome upon this message, he related
this dream to his friends: That he saw ears of corn, in number ten, full
of wheat, perfectly ripe, which ears, as it seemed to him, were devoured
by oxen. And when he was awake and gotten up, because the vision appeared
to beof great importance to him, he sent for the diviners, whose study
was employed about dreams. And while some were of one opinion, and some
of another, (for all their interpretations did not agree,) Simon, a man
of the sect of the Essens, desired leave to speak his mind freely, and
said that the vision denoted a change in the affairs of Archelaus, and
that not for the better; that oxen, because that animal takes uneasy pains
in his labors, denoted afflictions, and indeed denoted, further, a change
of affairs, because that land which is ploughed by oxen cannot remain in
its former state; and that the ears of corn being ten, determined the like
number of years, because an ear of corn grows in one year; and that the
time of Archelaus's government was over. And thus did this man expound
the dream. Now on the fifth day after this dream came first to Archelaus,
the other Archelaus, that was sent to Judea by Caesar to call him away,
came hither also.
4. The like accident befell Glaphyra his wife, who was the daughter
of king Archelaus, who, as I said before, was married, while she was a
virgin, to Alexander, the son of Herod, and brother of Archelaus; but since
it fell out so that Alexander was slain by his father, she was married
to Juba, the king of Lybia; and when he was dead, and she lived in widowhood
in Cappadocia with her father, Archclaus divorced his former wife Mariamne,
and married her, so great was his affection for this Glphyra; who, during
her marriage to him, saw the following dream: She thought she saw Alexander
standing by her, at which she rejoiced, and embraced him with great affection;
but that he complained o her, and said, O Glaphyra! thou provest that saying
to be true, which assures us that women are not to be trusted. Didst not
thou pledge thy faith to me? and wast not thou married to me when thou
wast a virgin? and had we not children between us? Yet hast thou forgotten
the affection I bare to thee, out of a desire of a second husband. Nor
hast thou been satisfied with that injury thou didst me, but thou hast
been so bold as to procure thee a third husband to lie by thee, and in
an indecent and imprudent manner hast entered into my house, and hast been
married to Archelaus, thy husband and my brother. However, I will not forget
thy former kind affection for me, but will set thee free from every such
reproachful action, and cause thee to be mine again, as thou once wast.
When she had related this to her female companions, in a few days' time
she departed this life.
5. Now I did not think these histories improper for the present discourse,
both because my discourse now is concerning kings, and otherwise also on
account of the advantage hence to be drawn, as well for the confirmation
of the immortality of the soul, as of the providence of God over human
affairs, I thought them fit to be set down; but if any one does not believe
such relations, let him indeed enjoy his own opinion, but let him not hinder
another that would thereby encourage himself in virtue. So Archelaus's
country was laid to the province of Syria; and Cyrenius, one that had been
consul, was sent by Caesar to take account of people's effects in Syria,
and to sell the house of Archelaus.
ENDNOTE
(1)
Those who have a mind to know all the family and descendants of Antipater
the Idumean, and of Herod the Great, his son, and have a memory to preserve
them all distinctly, may consult Josephus, Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 5. sect.
4; and Of the War, B. I. ch. 28. sect. 4; in Havercamp's edition, p. 336;
and Spanheim, lb. p. 402--405; and Reland, Paleslin. Part I. p. 178, 176.
(2)
This is now wanting.
(3)
Pheroras's wife, and her mother and sister, and Doris, Antipater's mother.
(4)His
wife, her mother, and sister.
(5)
It seems to me, by this whole story put together, that Pheroras was not
himself poisoned, as is commonly supposed; for Antipater had persuaded
him to poison Herod, ch. v. sect. 1, which would fall to the ground if
he wore himself poisoned; nor could the poisoning of Pheroras serve any
design that appears now going forward; it was only the supposal of two
of his freed-men, that this love-potion, or poison, which they knew was
brought to Pheroras's wife, was made use of for poisoning him; whereas
it appears to have been brought for her husband to poison Herod withal,
as the future examinations demonstrate.
(6)
That the making of images, without an intention to worship them, was not
unlawful to the Jews, see the note on Antiq. B VIII. ch. 7. sect. 5.
(7)
This fact, that one Joseph was made high priest for a single day, on occasion
of the action here specified, that befell Matthias, the real high priest,
in his sleep, the night before the great day of expiation, is attested
to both in the Mishna and Talmud, as Dr. Hudson here informs us. And indeed,
from this fact, thus fully attested, we may confute that pretended rule
in the Talmud here mentioned, and endeavored to be excused lay Reland,
that the high priest was not suffered to sleep the night before that great
day of expiation; which watching would surely rather unfit him for the
many important duties he was to perform on that solemn day, than dispose
him duly to perform them. Nor do such Talmudical rules, when unsupported
by better evidence, much less when contradicted there by, seem to me of
weight enough to deserve that so great a man as Reland should spend his
time in endeavors at their vindication.
(8)
This eclipse of the moon (which is the only eclipse of either of the luminaries
mentioned by our Josephus in any of his writings) is of the greatest consequence
for the determination of the time for the death of Herod and Antipater,
and for the birth and entire chronology of Jesus Christ. It happened March
13th, in the year of the Julian period 4710, and the 4th year before the
Christian era. See its calculation by the rules of astronomy, at the end
of the Astronomical Lectures, edit. Lat. p. 451, 452.
(9)
A place for the horse-races.
(10)
When it is here said that Philip the tetrarch, and Archelaus the king,
or ethnarch, were own brother, or genuine brothers, if those words mean
own brothers, or born of the same father and mother, there must be here
some mistake; because they had indeed the same father, Herod, but different
mothers; the former Cleopatra, and Archclaus Malthace. They were indeed
brought up together privately at Rome like when he went to have his kingdom
confirmed to him at Rome, ch. 9. sect. 5; and Of the War, B. II. ch. 2.
sect. 1; which intimacy is perhaps all that Josephus intended by the words
before us.
(11)
These numbers of years for Herod's reign, 34 and 37, are the very same
with those, Of the War, B. I. ch. 33. sect. 8, and are among the principal
chronological characters belonging to the reign or death of Herod. See
Harm. p. 150--155.
(12)
At eight stadia or furlongs a-day, as here, Herod's funeral, conducted
to Herodium, which lay at the distance from Jericho, where he died, of
200 stadia or furlongs, Of the War, B. 1. ch. 33. sect. 9, must have taken
up no less than twenty-five days.
(13)
This passover, when the sedition here mentioned was moved against Archelaus,
was not one, but thirteen months after the eclipse of the moon already
mentioned.
(14)
See Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 13. sect. 10; and Of the War; B. II. ch. 12. sect.
9.
(15)
These great devastations made about the temple here, and Of the War, B.
II. ch. 3. sect. 3, seem not to have been full re-edified in the days of
Nero; till whose time there were eighteen thousand workmen continually
employed in rebuilding and repairing that temple, as Josephus informs us,
Antiq. B. XX. ch. 9. sect. 7. See the note on that place.
(16)
Unless this Judas, the son of Ezekias, be the same with that Theudas, mentioned
Acts 5:36, Josephus must have omitted him; for that other Thoualas, whom
he afterward mentions, under Fadus the Roman governor, B. XX. ch. 5. sect.
1, is much too late to correspond to him that is mentioned in the Acts.
The names Theudas, Thaddeus, and Judas differ but little. See Archbishop
Usher's Annals at A.M. 4001. However, since Josephus does not pretend to
reckon up the heads of all those ten thousand disorders in Judea, which
he tells us were then abroad, see sect. 4 and 8, the Theudas of the Acts
might be at the head of one of those seditions, though not particularly
named by him. Thus he informs us here, sect. 6, and Of the War, B. II.
ch. 4. Sect. 2, that certain of the seditious came and burnt the royal
palace at Amsthus, or Betharamphta, upon the river Jordan. Perhaps their
leader, who is not named by Josephus, might be this Theudas.
(17)
See Of the War, B. II. ch. 2. sect. 3.
(18)
See the note, Of the War, B. II. ch. 6. sect. 1.
(19)
He was tetrarch afterward.
(20)
If any one compare that Divine prediction concerning the tyrannical power
which Jewish kings would exercise over them, if they would be so foolish
as to prefer it before their ancient theocracy or aristocracy, 1 Samuel
8:1-22; Antiq. B. VI. ch. 4. sect. 4, he will soon find that it was superabundantly
fulfilled in the days of Herod, and that to such a degree, that the nation
now at last seem sorely to repent of such their ancient choice, in opposition
to God's better choice for them, and had much rather be subject to even
a pagan Roman government, and their deputies, than to be any longer under
the oppression of the family of Herod; which request of theirs Augustus
did not now grant them, but did it for the one half of that nation in a
few years afterward, upon fresh complaints made by the Jews against Archelaus,
who, under the more humble name of an ethnarch, which Augustus only would
now allow him, soon took upon him the insolence and tyranny of his father
king Herod, as the remaining part of this book will inform us, and particularly
ch. 13. sect. 2.
(21)
This is not true. See Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 9. sect. 3, 4; and ch. 12. sect.
2; and ch. 13. sect. 1, 2. Antiq. B. XV. ch. 3. sect. 5; and ch. 10. sect.
2, 3. Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 9. sect. 3. Since Josephus here informs us that
Archelaus had one half of the kingdom of Herod, and presently informs us
further that Archelaus's annual income, after an abatement of one quarter
for the present, was 600 talents, we may therefore ga ther pretty nearly
what was Herod the Great's yearly income, I mean about 1600 talents, which,
at the known value of 3000 shekels to a talent, and about 2s. 10d. to a
shekel, in the days of Josephus, see the note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 8.
sect. 2, amounts to 680,000 sterling per annum; which income, though great
in itself, bearing no proportion to his vast expenses every where visible
in Josephus, and to the vast sums he left behind him in his will, ch. 8.
sect. 1, and ch. 12. sect. 1, the rest must have arisen either from his
confiscation of those great men's estates whom he put to death, or made
to pay fine for the saving of their lives, or from some other heavy methods
of oppression which such savage tyrants usually exercise upon their miserable
subjects; or rather from these several methods not together, all which
yet seem very much too small for his expenses, being drawn from no larger
a nation than that of the Jews, which was very populous, but without the
advantage of trade to bring them riches; so that I cannot but strongly
suspect that no small part of this his wealth arose from another source;
I mean from some vast sums he took out of David's sepulcher, but concealed
from the people. See the note on Antiq. B. VII. ch. 15. sect. 3.
(22)
Take here a very useful note of Grotias, on Luke 3:1, here quoted by Dr.
Hudson: "When Josephus says that some part of the house (or possession)
of Zenodorus (i.e. Abilene) was allotted to Philip, he thereby declares
that the larger part of it belonged to another. This other was Lysanias,
whom Luke mentions, of the posterity of that Lysanias who was possessed
of the same country called Abilene, from the city Abila, and by others
Chalcidene, from the city Chaleis, when the government of the East was
under Antonius, and this after Ptolemy, the son of Menneus; from which
Lysanias this country came to be commonly called the Country of Lysanias;
and as, after the death of the former Lyanias, it was called the tetrarchy
of Zenodorus, so, after the death of Zenodorus, or when the time for which
he hired it was ended. when another Lysanias, of the same name with the
former, was possessed of the same country, it began to be called the Tetrarchy
of Lysanias." However, since Josephus elsewhere (Antiq. B. XX. ch.
7. sect. 1) clearly distinguishes Abilene from Cilalcidcue, Groius must
be here so far mistaken.
(23)
Spanheim seasonably observes here, that it was forbidden the Jews to marry
their brother's wife when she had children by her first husband, and that
Zonaras (cites, or) interprets the clause before us accordingly.
Antiquities of the Jews
War of the Jews
Autobiography
Hades
Against Apion