>» ■* 2**m ^F f ^ C5 Jt— -pu V^'j3? 1^SSM maEm ■ ■ ■ ■ — IS H I m Sift H HT D3S hi i^-V Hi 0 © A A © & K11ECCA, THE WORKS OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS: COMPRISING THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS; A HISTORY OF THE JEWISH WARS; AND LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK, By WILLIAM WHISTON, A.M. PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. TOGETHER WITH NUMEROUS EXPLANATORY NOTES, AND CONCERNING JESUS CHRIST, JOHN THE BAPTIST, JAMES THE JUST, GOD'S COMMAND TO ABRAHAM, ETC. FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION. jSMBELLISHED with elegant engravings. IN TWO VOLUMES.— VOL. II. PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY JAS. B. SMITH & CO., NO. 146 CHESTNUT STREET. 1857. CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.— (Continued.) BOOK XVI. Containing an interval of twelve years. FROM THE FINISHING OF THE TEMPLE BY nEROD, TO THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER AND ARISTOBU- LUS. PAGE Chap. I. Herod's law concerning thieves — Sa- lome and Pheroras calumniate Alexander and Aristobulus upon their return from Rome 7 Chap. II. Agrippa visits Herod — Herod sails after Agrippa, who confirms the laws of the Ionian Jews S Chap. III. Disturbances in Herod's family ou his preferring Antipater before the rest 11 Chap. IV. Herod brings Alexander and Aris- tobulus before Caesar — Alexander's defence, and reconciliation to his father 13 Chap. V. Herod celebrates the games that were to return every fifth year, on the build- ing of Caesarea 17 Chap. VI. The Jews in Asia complain of the Greeks to Caesar IS Chap. VII. Herod removes part of the riches from the tomb of David — sedition consequent thereon 20 Chap. VIII. Continued dissensions in Herod's family 23 Chap. IX. The Trachonites revolt — Sylleus accuses Herod before Ctesar 26 Chap. X. Eurycles falsely accuses Herod's son 28 Chap. XL Herod, by permission from Coesar, accuses his sons before an assembly of judges at Berytus — Death of the young men, and their burial at Alexandrium 32 BOOK XVII. Containing an interval of fourteen years. FROM ALEXANDER AND ARISTOBULUS'S DEATHS TO THE BANISHMENT OF ARCHELAUS. Chap. I. Antipater, hated by the Jewish na- tion, endeavours to gain the good-will of the Romans and Syrians by presents 36 Chap. II. Zamaris, a Babylonish Jew, as- sumes the government of Batanea — his death — Antipater plots against Herod 38 Chap. III. Enmity between Herod and Phe- roras— Herod sends Antipater to Caesar — Death of Pheroras 39 Chap. IV. Pheroras's wife accused of poison- ing her husband — consequences of the accu- sation 41 Chap. V. Antipater returns from Rome — ac- cused by Nicolaus of Damascus — condemned to die by Herod and Quintilius Varus 42 Chap. VI. Illness of Herod — the Jews raise a sedition thereon — ??e discovered and pu- nished 47 Chap. VII. Herod contemplates self-destruc- tion—orders Antipater to be slain 50 Chap. VIII. Herod's death — his testament — burial 51 Chap. IX. The people raise a sedition against Archelaus, who sails to Rome 52 Chap. X. Sedition of the Jews against Sabi- nus 56 Chap. XI. An Embassy of the Jews to Caesar — Caesar confirms Herod's testament 60 chap. XII. Concerning a spurious Alexander 62 Chap. XIII. Anhelaus, upon a second accu- sation, banished to Vienna 63 BOOK XVIII. Containing an interval of thirty-two years. FROM TnE BANISHMENT OF ARCHELAUS To THE DE- PARTURE OF THE JEWS FROM BABYLON. Chap. I. Cyrenus sent by Caesar to tax Syria and Judea; Coponius sent as procurator of Judea — Judas of Galilee — sects among the Jews 65 Chap. II. Herod and Philip build several cities in honour of Cresar 67 Chap. III. Sedition of the Jews against Pon- tius Pilate 69 Chap. IV. The Samaritans make a tumult — Pilate destroys many of them — Pilate is accused 72 Chap. V. Herod the tetrarch makes war with Aretas, king of Arabia — is beaten by him — Death of John the Baptist 74 Chap. VI. Agrippa visits Rome — accused be- fore Tiberius Coesar — imprisoned — is set at liberty by Caius, after the death of Tiberius 76 Chap. VII. Herod the tetrarch banished 83 Chap. VIII. Embassy of the Jews to Caius — Caius sends Petronius into Syria, to make war against the Jews 85 Chap. IX. Sedition among the Babylonish Jews 89 BOOK XIX. Containing an interval of three years and a half. FROM THE JEWS' DEPARTURE OUT OF BABYLON TO FADUS THE ROMAN PROCURATOR. Chap. I. Caius (Caligula) slain by Cherca 95 Chap. II. The senators attempt the re-es- tablishment of a democracy — Claudius chosen emperor by the soldiers — Death of the wife and daughter of Caius 106 Chap. III. Claudius seized on, and brought to the camp — the senate sends an embassy to him 110 Chap. IV. Claudius assisted by Agrippa, ob- tains the sovereignty of Rome — executes the murderers of Caius 112 Chap. V. Claudius restores to Agrippa his grandfather's kingdom — augments his do- minions ; and publishes an edict in behalf of the Jews 114 Chap. VI. Conduct of Agrippa — Petronius writes to the inhabitants of Doris on behalf of the Jews 116 Chap. VII. Silas imprisoned by Agrippa — Jerusalem encompassed by a wall — benefits conferred on the inhabitants of Berytus by Agrippa 117 Chap. VIII. Death of Agrippa 119 Chap. IX. The Emperor Claudius appoints Cuspius Fadus procurator of Judea 120 3 CONTENTS. BOOK XX. Containing an interval of twenty-two years. PROM KADIS THE PROCURATOR TO FLORUS. Chap. I. Sedition of the Philadelphians against the Jews 121 Chap. II. Helena, queen of Adiabene, and her son Izates, embrace the Jewish religion — Helena supplies the poor with corn during a great famine at Jerusalem 122 Chap. III. Artabanus, king of Parthia,re-in- Btated in his government by Izates — Barda- nes denounces war against Izates 125 Chap. IV. Izates betrayed by his subjects, ami is attacked by the Arabians, but eventu- ally subdues them 126 Chap. V. Concerning Theudas and the sons of Judas the Galilean — calamity of the Jews on the day of the Passover 128 Chap. VI. A quarrel between the Jews and the Samaritans — Claudius puts an end to their differences 129 Chap. VII. Felix made procurator of Jndea — concerning the younger Agrippa and his sisters 130 Chap. VIII. Nero succeeds to the Roman government — his cruelties — Felix and Fes- tus procurators of Judea 131 Chap. IX. Albinus procurator of Judea — the Apostle James slain — Edifices built by Agrippa 135 Chap. X. Enumeration of the high priests... 137 Chap. XL Florus the procurator compels the Jews to take up arms against the Romans — conclusion 138 WARS OF THE JEWS. Preface, 141 BOOK I. Containing an interval of 167 years. PROM THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES TO THE DEATH OF HEROD THE GREAT. Chap. I. Jerusalem taken, and the temple pil- laged [by Antiochus Epiphanes] — actions of the Maccabees, Matthias and Judas — death of Judas 144 Chap. II. Jonathan, Simeon, and John Hyr- canus succeed Judas Maccabeus 145 Chap. III. Aristobulus changes the govern- ment into a kingdom — destroys his mother ■■mil brother — -reigns one year 147 Chap. IV. Alexander Janneus succeeds to the crown, and reigns 27 years 149 Chap. V. Alexander reigns nine years 150 Chap. VI. Hyrcanus resigns the kingdom in favour of his brother Aristobulus — is induced to reclaim it — Pompey arbitrates between the two brothers 151 Chap. VII. Jerusalem surrendered to Pom- pey, who seizes on the Temple by force 153 Chap. VIII. Alexander, son of Aristobulus, makes an expedition against Hyrcanus — is defeated by Gabinius — Aristobulus escapes from Rome, is beaten by the Romans, and sent back again 155 Chap. IX. Aristobulus poisoned by Pompey's party — Scipio beheads Alexander — Antipa- ter cultivates a friendship with Caosar, after Pom] ley's death 157 Chap. X. Antipater, procurator of Judea — appoints Phasaelus governor of Jerusalem, ami Herod of Galilee — Sextus Ca;sar mur- dered by Bassns 158 Chap. XL Herod made procurator of all Syria 160 Chap. XII. Phasaelus too hard for Felix — Herod overcomes Antigonus — the Jews ac- cuse Herod and Phasaelus — Antonius acquits them, and makes them tetrarchs 162 Chap. XIII. The Parthians bring Antigonus back — Hyrcanus and Phasaelus imprisoned — flight of Herod — the Parthians obtain pos- sesion of Jerusalem — death of Phasaelus... 163 Chap. XIV. Herod rejected in Arabia — makes hasteto Rome — Antony and Caesar unite their interest to make him king of the Jews 166 Chap. XV. Antigonus besieges Massada — He- rod compels him to raise the siege, and then marches to Jerusalem 167 Chap. XVI. Herod takes Sepphoris — subdues the robbers — avenges himself on Macheras — joins Antony at Samosata 168 Chap. XVII. Death of Joseph — Herod's pre- servation— beheads the slayer of his brother — besieges Jerusalem and marries Mariamne 170 Chap. XVIII. Herod and Sosius take Jerusa- lem by force— death of Antigonus — Cleopa- tra's avarice 172 Chap. XIX. Antony, at the persuasion of Cleopatra, sends Herod to fight against the Arabians — great earthquake 174 Chap. XX. Herod is confirmed in his king- dom by Casar — cultivates a friendship with the emperor by magnificent presents — Cae- sar returns Herod's kindness by enlarging his territories 176 Chap. XXI. Of the [temple and] cities built by Herod — his magnificence to foreigners... 178 Chap. XXII. Murder of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus the high priests, and of Mariamne the queen 180 Chap. XXIII. Calumnies against the sons of Mariamne — Antipater preferred before them — they are accused before Cfesar, and Herod is reconciled to them 182 Chap. XXIV. Malice of Antipater and Doris — Herod pardons Pheroras and Salome — He- rod's eunuchs tortured — Alexander impri- soned 184 Chap. XXV. Archelaus procures a reconcilia- tion between Alexander, Pheroras, and He- rod 187 Chap. XXVI. Eurycles calumniates the sons of Mariamne — Euratus's apology has no ef- fect 1S8 Chap. XXVII. Herod, by Cassar's directions, accuses his sons at Berytus — they are con- demned and sent to Sebaste, and strangled shortly afterward 191 Chap. XXVIII. Antipater hated by all — the king espouses the sons of those that had been slain to his kindred — Antipater induces him to change them for other women — He- rod's marriages and children 192 Chap. XXIX. Intolerance of Antipater — he is sent to Rome — Pheroras refuses to divorce his wife , 194 CONTENTS. PAGE Chap. XXX. Herod inquires into the death of Pheroras — consequences thereof 195 Chap. XXXI. Antipater, convicted by Ba- thyllus, returns from Rome, and is brought to trial by Herod 197 Chap. XXXII. Antipater accused before Va- rus— is convicted — his punishment postponed till the recovery of his father 199 Chap. XXXIII. The golden eagle cut to pieces — Herod's barbarity — attempts to kill him- self— commands Antipater to be slain — sur- vives him five days 201 BOOK II. Containing an interval of sixty-nine years. FROM THE DEATH OF HEROD TILL VESPASIAN WAS SENT TO SUBDUE THE JEWS BY NERO. Chap. I. Archelaus makes a funeral feast — a great tumult raised by the multitude — the soldiers destroy about 3000 of them 204 Chap. II. Archelaus accused before Ciesar by Autipater — is successfully defended by Nico- laus 205 Cb.ap. III. Revolt of the Jews 207 Chap. IV. Herod's veteran soldiers become tumultuous — robberies of Judas — Simon and Athrongeus assume the name of king 208 Chap. V. Varus quells the tumults in Judea — crucifies about two thousand of the sedi- tious 209 Chap. VI. The Jews complain of Archelaus, and desire that they may be made subject to Roman governors 210 Chap. VII. History of the spurious Alexan- der— banishment of Archelaus, and death of Glaphyra 211 Chap. VIII. Archelaus's ethuarehy reduced to a [Roman] province — sedition of Judas of Galilee — the three sects of the Jews 212 Chap. IX. Death of Salome — Pilate occasions disturbances — Tiberius puts Agrippa into bonds — Caius frees him, and makes him king — Herod Antipas banished 216 Chap. X. Caius commands that his statue should be set up in the temple 217 Chap. XI. The government of Claudius, and the reign of Agrippa — Death of Agrippa and Herod 218 Chap. XII. Tumults under Cumanus — sup- pressed by Quadratus — Felix procurator of Judea — Agrippa advanced from Chalcis to a larger kingdom 220 Chap. XIII. Nero adds four cities to Agrip- pa's kingdom — disturbances raised by the Sicarii, the magicians, and an Egyptian false prophet 222 Chap. XIV. Festus, Albinus, and Florus suc- cessively procurators of Judea — the Jews resist the cruelties of Florus 223 Chap. XV. Bernice petitions Florus to spare the Jews — cruelties and avarice of Florus... 226 Chap. XVI. Florus accuses the Jews of re- volting from the Roman government — Agrip- pa's speech to the Jews on their intended war agiiinst the Romans 228 Chap. XVII. Commencement of the Jewish war with the Romans — Manahem heads the Jewish insurgents, who are defeated with great slvughter 233 Chap. XV III. Dreadful slaughters and suf- ferings of the Jews 237 Chap. XIX. Cestius besieges Jerusalem -re- treats from the city — the Jews pursue nim, and defeat him with great slaughter 241 Chap. XX. Cestius sends ambassadors to Ne- 21 PAQl ro — the Damascenes destroy the Jews in their cities — Jerusalem put in a state of de- fence—Josephus made a general of the Jew- ish forces 244 Chap. XXI. Josephus defeats tho plots of John of Uischala, and recovers the revolted cities 246 Chap. XXII. The Jews prepare for war 250 BOOK III. Containing an interval of about one year. from 'Vespasian's coming to subdue the jews TO the taking of gamala. Chap. I. Vespasian sent into Syria by Nero, to make war with the Jews. 251 Chap. II. Slaughter of the Jews about Asca- lon — Vespasian arrives at Ptolemais 252 Chap. III. Description of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea 253 Chap. IV. Josephus makes an attempt upon Sepphoris, but is repelled — Titus joins Ves- pasian at Ptolemais 254 Chap. V. Description of tho Roman armies and camps 255 Chap. VI. Placidus attempts to take Jolapa- ta, but is repulsed — Vespasian marches into Galilee 257 Chap. VII. Vespasian takes Gadara, and marches to Jotapata, which is betrayed by a deserter 258 Chap. VIII. Josephus discovered in a cave — he delivers himself up to the Romans, who bring him before Vespasian 270 Chap. IX. Joppa taken, and Tiberias deliver- ed up. 273 Chap. X. Tarichea taken — a description of the river Jordan, and of Geuesareth 276 BOOK IV. Containing an interval of about one year. FROM THE SIEGE OF GAMALA TO THE COMING Of TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM. Chap. I. The siege and taking of Gamala.... 280 Chap. II. The surrender of tho small city of Gischala — John of Gischala flies to Jerusa- lem 285 Chap. III. Concerning John of Gischala — the Zealots and the high priest Ananus — the Jews raise seditions one against another 287 Chap. IV. The Idumeans being sent for by the Zealots, come immediately to Jerusalem 293 Chap. V. Cruelty of the Idumeans and the Zealots — slaughter of Ananus, Jesus, and Zacharias 297 Chap. VI. The Idumeans return home — the Zealots continue their slaughter of the citizens — Vespasian dissuades the Romans from proceeding in tho Jewish war 300 Chap. VII. Tyranny of John— Massada plun- dered by the Zealots — Vespasian takes Ga- dara 302 Chap. VIII. Commotions in Gall [Galatia] — Vespasian hastens to terminato the Jewish war — description of Jericho, the Great Plain, and the Lake Asphaltitis 305 Chap. IX. Vespasian makes preparations to besiege Jerusalem — Death of Nero — an ac- count of Simon of Gerasa 307 Chap. X. Vespasian proclaimed emperor by the soldiers in Judea and Egypt — he libe- rates Josephus 312 Chap. XI. Upon the conquest and slaughter of Vitellius, Vespasian hastens to Rome, and Titus returns to Jerusalem 315 CONTENTS. PAOl BOOK V. Containing an interval of near six months. FROM THE COMING OF TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSA- LKM. TO Tin: GREAT EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE JEWS WEBB REDUCED. Chap. I. Seditions at Jerusalem, and mise- ries consequent thereon 317 Chap. II. Titus inarches to Jerusalem 320 Chap. III. The sedition again revived within Jerusalem — the Jews contrive snares for the Romans — Titus threatens his soldiers for their ungovernable rashness 323 Chap. IV. Description of Jerusalem 325 Chap. V. Description of the Temple 328 Chap. VI. Titus continues the siege vigorously 332 Chap. VII. The Remans, after great slaugh- ter, obtain possession of the first wall — trea- cherous snares of the Jews..- 334 Chap. VIII. The Romans possess themselves of the second wall 337 Chap. IX. Temporary cessation of the siege — renewal of hostilities — Josephus sent to offer peace 338 Chap. X. Many of the Jews endeavour to de- sert to the Romans — severe famine in the city 342 Chap. XI. The Jews crucified before the walls of the city — Antiochus Epiphanes — the Jews overthrow the banks raised by the Romans 344 Chap. XII. Titus encompasses the city round with a wall — -the famine consumes the peo- ple by whole houses and families 347 Chap. XIII. Great slaughter and sacrilege in Jerusalem 349 BOOK VI. Containing an interval of a'ljout one month. FROM THE GREAT EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE JV.WS WERE REDUCED TO THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. Chap. I. The miseries of the Jews increase . — the Romans make an assault upon the tower of Antonia 352 Chap. II. Titus orders the tower of Antonia to bo destroyed — Josephus exhorts the Jews to surrender 358 Chap. III. Stratagems of the Jews against the Romans — further account of the famine within the city 363 Chap. IV. Destruction of the Temple 365 Chap. V. Distress of the Jews upon the de- struction of the Temple 368 Chap. VI. The Romans continue to plunder and burn the city 371 Chap. VII. The seditious continue to resist the Romans 374 Chap. VIII. Titus gains possession of the whole city 375 Chap. IX. Titus examines the city — number of captives and of the slain — the Romans entirely destroy the walls 377 Chap. X. History of Jerusalem, and of its va- rious sieges 378 BOOK VII. Containing an interval of about three years. FROM THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS, TO THE SEDITION OF THE JEWS AT CYRENE. Chap. I. Entire destruction of Jerusalem — Titus rewards his soldiers, and dismisses many of them 379 Chap. II. Titus exhibits shows at Cassarea Philippi — capture of Simon 380 Chap. III. Titus celebrates his father's and brother's birthday by slaughtering many of the Jewish captives — the people of Antioch accuse the Jews of sedition 381 Chap. IV. Vespasian's reception at Rome — revolt of the German legion— the Samari- tans overrun Myria, but are defeated 382 Chap. V. An account of the Sabbatic river — the Antiochians petition Titus against the Jews, but are rejected — description of the triumphal shows of Vespasian and Titus... 3S4 Chap. VI. The city Macherus — Lucilius Bas- sus takes the citadel, and other places 387 Chap. VII. Misfortunes of Antiochus, king of Commagene — clemency of Vespasian — the Alans ravage the countries of the Medes and Armenians 391 Chap. VIII. Massada besieged by Flavius Silva 392 Chap. IX. The inhabitants of the fortress, at the instigation of Eleazar, destroy each other 399 Chap. X. The Siearii flee to Alexandria — de- struction of the Jewish temple built by Onias 401 Chap. XL Conclusion 402 ADDENDA. Flavins Josephus against Apion 404 An Extract out of Josephus's Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades 449 Dissertation I. The Testimonies concerning Ju.mi^ Christ, John the Baptist, and James the Just, vindicated 452 The ancient citations of the testimonies of Jo- sephus from his own time till the end of the fifteenth century 452 Observations from the foregoing evidence and citations 459 Dissertation II. Concerning God's com- mand to Abraham to offer up Isaac his son for a sacrifice 464 Dissertation III. Tacitus's accounts of the origin of the Jewish nation, and of the particulars of the last Jewish War — that the former was probably written in opposi- tion to Josephus's Antiquities, and that the latter was for certain almost all directly taken from Josephus's History of the Jewish War 473 Pliny's Epistle to Trajan 482 Trajan's Epistle to Pliny 484 Observations upon the passages taken out of Tacitus 484 Table of Jewish Weights and Measures 486 °io ■ - . ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. BOOK XVI. CONTAINING AN INTERVAL OF TWELVE YEARS, FROM THE FINISHING OF THE TEMPLE BY HEROD TO THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER AND ARISTOBULUS. CHAPTER I. Herod's law concerning Thieves — Salome and Phe- roras calumniate Alexander and Aristobulus upon their return from Rome. As King Herod was very zealous in the administration of his entire government, and desirous to put a stop to particular acts of injustice which were done by criminals about the city and country, he made a law, noway like our original laws, and which he enacted of himself, to expose housebreakers to be ejected out of his kingdom; which punishment was not only grievous to be borne by the offenders, but contained in it a dissolution of the customs of our forefathers ; for this slavery to foreigners, and such as did not live after the manner of Jews, and this necessity that they were under to do whatsoever such men should command, was an offence against our religious settlement, rather than a punishment to such as were found to have offended, such a punishment being avoided in our original laws; for those laws ordain, that the thief shall re- store fourfold ; and that if he have not so much, he shall be sold, indeed, but not to foreigners, nor so that he be under per- petual slavery, for he must have been re- leased after six years. But this law, thus enacted, in order to introduce a severe and illegal punishment, seemed to be a piece of insolence in Herod, when he did not act as a king but as a tyrant, and thus contemptuously, and without any regard to his subjects, venture to introduce such a punishment. Now, this penalty thus brought into practice, was like Herod's other actions, and became a part of his accusation, and an occasion of the hatred he lay under. Now, at this time it was that he sailed to Italy, as very desirous to meet with Ca3sar, and to see his sons, who lived at Rome : and Cfesar was not only very obliging to him in other respects, but delivered him his sons again, that he might take them home with him, as hav- ing already completed themselves in the sciences; but as soon as the young men were come from Italy, the multitude were very desirous to see them, and they be- came conspicuous among them all, as adorned with great blessings of fortune, and having the countenances of persons of royal dignity. So they soon appeared to be the objects of envy to Salome, the king's sister, and to such as had raised calumnies against Mariamne ; for they were suspicious that when these came to the government, they should be punished for the wickedness they had been guilty of against their mother; so they made this very fear of theirs a motive to raise calumnies against them also. They gave it out that they were not pleased with their father's company, because he had put their mother to death, as if it were not agreeable to piety to appear to con- verse with their mother's murderer. Now, by carrying these stories, that had indeed a true foundation [in the fact,] but were only built on probabilities as to the pre- sent accusation, they were able to do them mischief, and to make Herod take away that kindness from his sons which he had before borne to them, for they did not say these things to him openly, but scattered abroad such words among the rest of the multitude; from which words when carried to Herod, he was induced [at last] to hate them, and which natural affection itself, 7 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVI even in length of time, was not able to overcome; jet was the king at that time in a condition to prefer the natural affec- tion of a father before all the suspicions and calumnies his sons lay under; so he respected them as he ought to do, and married them to wives, now they were of an age suitable thereto. To Aristobulus he gave for a wife Bernice, Salome's daughter; and to Alexander, Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cap- padocia. CHAPTER II. Agrippa visits Herod — Herod sails after Agrippa, who confirms the laws of the Ionian Jews. When Herod had despatched these affairs, and he understood that Marcus Agrippa had sailed again out of Italy into Asia, he made haste to him, and besought him to come to him into his kingdom, and to partake of what he might justly expect from one that had been his guest, and was his friend. This request he greatly pressed, and to it Agrippa agreed, and came into Judea : whereupon Herod omitted nothing that might please him. He entertained him in his newly built cities, and showed him the edifices he had built, and provided all sorts of the best and most costly dainties for him and his friends, and that at Sebaste and Csesarea, about that port that he had built, and at the fortresses which he had erected at great expenses, Alexandrium, and Herodium, and Hyrcania. He also conducted him to the city Jerusalem, where all the people met him in their festival garments, and received him with acclamations. Agrippa, also, offered a hecatomb of sacrifices to God; and feasted the people, without omitting any of the greatest dainties that could be gotten. He also took so much pleasure there, that he abode many days with them, and would williugly have stayed longer, but that the season of the year made him haste away; for, as winter was coming on, he thought it not safe to go to sea later, and yet he was of necessity to return again to Ionia. So Agrippu went away, when Herod had bestowed on him, and on the prin- cipal of those that were with him, many presents; but King Herod, when he had passud the winter in his own dominions, made haste to get to him again in the spring, when he knew he designed to go a campaign at the Bosphorus. So when he had sailed by Rhodes and by Cos, he touched at Lesbos, as thinking he should have overtaken Agrippa there ; but he was taken short here by a north wind, which hindered his ship from going to the shore ; so he continued many days at Chius, and there he kindly treated a great many that came to him, and obliged them by giving them royal gifts. And when he saw that the portico of the city had fallen down, which as it was overthrown in the Mithridatic war, and was a very large and fine building, so was it not so easy to rebuild that as it was the rest, yet did he furnish a sum not only large enough ■ for that purpose, but what was more than sufficient to finish the building; and ordered them not to overlook that portico, but to rebuild it quickly, that so the city might recover its proper orna- ments. And when the high wimls were laid, he sailed to Mitylene, and thence to Byzantium ; and when he heard that Agrippa had sailed beyond the Cyanean rocks, he made all the haste possible to overtake him, and came up with him about Sinope, in Pontus. He was seen sailing by the shipmen most unexpectedly, but appeared to their great joy; and many friendly salutations there were between them, insomuch that Agrippa thought he had received the greatest marks of the king's kindness and humanity toward him possible, since the king had come so long a voyage, and at a very proper season for his assistance, and had left the govern- ment of his own dominions, and thought it more worth his while to come to him. Accordingly, Herod was all in all to Agrippa, in the management of the war, and a great assistant in civil affairs, and in giving him counsel as to particular matters. He was also a pleasant com- panion for him when he relaxed himself, and a joint partaker with him in all things ; in troubles, because of his kind- ness; and in prosperity, because of the respect Agrippa had for him. Now, as soon as those affairs of Pontus were finished, for whose sake Agrippa was sent thither, they did not think fit to return by sea, but passed through Paphlagonia and Cappadocia; they then travelled thence over great Phrygia, and came to Ephesus, and then they sailed from Ephesus to Samos. And, indeed, the king bestowed a great many benefits on every city that he came to, according as they stood in need of them; for, as for Chap. II.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. those that wanted either money or kind treatment, lie was not wanting to them ; but he supplied the former himself out of his own expenses : he also became an intercessor with Agrippa for all such as sought after his favour, and he brought things so about, that the petitioners failed in none of their suits to him, Agrippa being himself of a good disposition, and of great generosity, and ready to grant all such requests as might be advantageous to the petitioners, provided they were not to the detriment of others. The inclination of the king was of great weight also, and still excited Agrippa, who was himself ready to do good ; for he made a recon- ciliation between the people of Ilium", at whom he was angry, and paid what money the people of Chius owed Caesar's procurators, and discharged them of their tributes; and helped all others, according as their several necessities required. But now, when Agrippa and Herod were in Ionia, a great multitude of Jews, who dwelt in their cities, came to them, and laying hold of the opportunity and the liberty now given them, laid before them the injuries which they suffered, while they were not permitted to use their own laws, but were compelled to prosecute their lawsuits, by the ill usuage of the judges, upon their holy days, and were deprived of the money they used to lay up at Jerusalem, and were forced into the army, and upon such other offices as obliged them to spend their sacred money ; from which burdens they always used to be freed by Romans, who had still per- mitted them to live according to their own laws. When this clamour was made, the king desired of Agrippa that he would hear their cause, and assigned Nicolaus, one of his friends, to plead for those their privileges. Accordingly, when Agrippa had called the principal of the Romans, and such of the kings and rulers as were there, to be his assessors, Nicolaus stood up, and pleaded for the Jews, as follows : — It is of necessity incumbent on such as are in distress to have recourse to those that have it in their power to free them from those injuries they lie under; and for those that now are complainants, they ap- proach you with great assurance; for as they have formerly often obtained your favour, so far as they have even wished to have it, they now only entreat that you, who have been the donors, will take care that those favours you have already granted them may not he taken awa}' from them. We have received these favours from you, who alone have power to grant them, but have them taken from us by such as are no greater than ourselves, and by such as we know are as much subjects as we are ; and certainly, if we have been vouchsafed great favours, it is to our commendation who have obtained them, as having been found deserving of such great favours; and if those favours be but small ones, it would he barbarous for the donors not to confirm them to us; and for those that are the hinderance of the Jews, and use them reproachfully, it is evident that they affront both the receivers, while they will not allow those to be worthy men to whom their excellent rulers themselves have borne their testimony, and the donors, while they desire those favors already granted may be abrogated. Now if any one should ask these Gentiles themselves, which of the two things they would choose to part with, their lives, or the customs of their forefathers, their solemnities, their sacrifices, their festivals, which they cele- brate in honor of those they suppose to be gods, I know very well that they would choose to suffer any thing whatsoever rather than a dissolution of any of the customs of their forefathers; for a great many of them have rather chosen to go to war on that account, as very solicitous not to transgress in those matters : and, indeed, we take an estimate of that happiness which all mankind do now enjoy by your means from this very thing, that we are allowed every one to worship as our own institutions require, and yet to live [in peace]; and although they would not be thus treated themselves, yet do they en- deavour to compel others to comply with them, as if it were not as great an instance of impiety, profanely to dissolve the reli- gious solemnities of any others, as to be negligent in the observation of their own toward their gods. And let us now con- sider the one of these practices : is there any people, or city, or community of men, to whom your government and the Roman power does not appear to be the greatest blessing? Is there any one that can de- sire to make void the favours they have granted ? No one, certainly, is so mad ; for there are no men but such as have been made partakers of their favours, both public and private; and, indeed, those that take away what you have granted, can have no assurance, but every one )f their own 10 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVI. grants made them by you may be taken from them also; which grants of yours can never be sufficiently valued ; for if they consider the old governments under kings, together with your present govern- ment, besides the great number of benefits which this government hath bestowed on them, in order to their happiness, this is instead of all the rest, that they appear to be no longer in a state of slavery, but of freedom. Now, the privileges we desire, even when we are in the best circum- stances, are not such as deserve to be en- vied, for we are, indeed, in a prosperous state by your means, but this is only in common with others; and it is no more than this which we desire, to preserve our religion without any prohibition, which, as it appears not in itself a privilege to be envied us, so it is for the advantage of those that grant it to us; for if the Di- vinity delights in being honoured, he must delight in those that permit him to be honoured. And there are none of our customs which are inhuman, but all tend- ing to piety, and devoted to the preserva- tion of justice; nor do we conceal those injunctions of ours by which we govern our lives, they being memorials of piety, and of a friendly conversation among men. And the seventh day we set apart from labour; and it is dedicated to the learning of our customs and laws, we think it pro- per to reflect on them, as well as on any [good] thing else, in order to our avoid- ing of sin. If any one, therefore, examine into our observances, he will find they are good in themselves, and that they are an- cient also, though some think otherwise, insomuch that those who have received them cannot easily be brought to depart from them, out of that honour they pay to the length of time they have religiously enjoyed them and observed them. Now, our adversaries take these our privileges away in the way of injustice; they vio- lently seize upon that money of ours which is offered to God, and called sacred money, and this openly, after a sacrilegious man- ner; and they impose tributes upon us, and bring us before tribunals on holy days, and then require other like debts of us, not because the contracts require it, and for their own advantage, but because they would put an affront ou our religion, of which they are conscious as well as we, and have indulged themselves in an unjust, and to them involuntary hatred; for your government over all is one, tending to the . establishing of benevolence, and abolish- ing of ill-will among such as are disposed to it. This is, therefore, what we implore from thee, most excellent Agrippa, that we may not be ill treated ; that we may not be abused; that we may not be hin- dered from making use of our own cus- toms, nor be despoiled of our goods; nor be forced by these men to do what we ourselves force nobody to do : for these privileges of ours are not only according to justice, but have formerly been granted us by you ; and we are able to read to you many decrees of the seuate, and the tables that contain them, which are still extant in the capitol, concerning these things, which it is evident were granted after you had experience of our fidelity toward you, which ought to be valued, though no such fidelity had been ; for you have hitherto preserved what people were in possession of, not to us only, but almost to all men, and have added greater advan- tages than they could have hoped for, and thereby your government has become a greater advantage to them. And if any one were able to enumerate the prosperity you have conferred on every nation, which they possess by your means, he could never put an end to his discourse; but that we may demonstrate that we are not unworthy of all those advantages we have obtained, it will be sufficient for us to say nothing of other things, but to speak freely of this king who now governs us, and is now one of thy assessors; aud, indeed, in what in- stance of good-will hath he been deficient? What mark of fidelity to it hath he omit- ted ? What token of honour hath he not devised? What occasion for his assistance of you hath he not regarded at the very first? What hiudereth, therefore, but that your kindnesses may be as numerous as his so great benefits to you have been? It may also, perhaps, be fit not here to pass over in silence the valour of his father, Antipater, who, when Caesar made an ex- pedition into Egypt, assisted him with 2000 armed men, and proved inferior to none, neither in the battles on land, nor in the management of the navy ; and what need we say any thing of how great weight those soldiers were at that juncture; or how many, and how great presents they were vouchsafed by Caesar ? And truly, we ought before now to have mentioned the epistles which Caesar wrote to the senate ; and how Antipater had honours, and the freedom of the city of Rome, be- ■nl Chap. III.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 11 stowed upon him ; for these are demon- strations both that we have received these favours by our own deserts, and do on that account petition thee for thy con- firmation of them, from whom we had reason to hope for them, though they had not been given us before, both out of re- gard to our king's disposition toward you, and your disposition toward him; and further, we have been informed by those Jews that were there, with what kindness thou earnest into our country, and how thou didst offer the most perfect sacrifices to God, and didst honour him with re- markable vows, and how thou gavest the people a feast, and didst accept of their own hospitable presents to thee. We ought to esteem all these kind entertainments made both by our nation aud our city, to a man who is the ruler and manager of so much of the public affairs, as indications of that friendship which thou hast re- turned to the Jewish nation, and which hath been procured them by the family of Herod. So we put thee in mind of these things in the presence of the king, now sitting by thee, and make our request for no more but this, that what you have given us yourselves, you will not see taken away by others from us." When Nicolaus had made this speech, there was no opposition made to it by the Greeks, for this was not an inquiry made, as in a court of justice, but au interces- sion to prevent violence to be offered to the Jews any longer; nor did the Greeks make any defence of themselves, or deny what it was supposed they had done. Their pretence was no more than this, that while the Jews inhabited in their country, they were entirely unjust to them [in not joining in their worship] ; but they de- monstrated their generosity in this, that though they worshipped according to their own institutions, they did nothing that ought to grieve them. So, when Agrippa perceived that they had beeu oppressed by violence, he made this answer: that, on account of Herod's good-will aud friend- ship, he was ready to grant the Jews what- soever they should ask him, aud that their requests seemed to him in themselves just; and that if they requested any thing fur- ther, he should not scruple to graut it them, provided they were noway to the detriment of the Roman government; but that, while their request was no more than this, that what privileges they had already given them might not be abrogated, he confirmed this to them, that they might continue in the observation of their own customs, without any one offering them the least injury; and when he had said thus, he dissolved the assembly; upon which Herod stood up and saluted him, and gave him thanks for the kind dispo- sition he showed to them. Agrippa, also, took this in a very obliging manner, and saluted him again, aud embraced him in his arms; after which he went away from Lesbos; but the king determined to sail from Samos to his own country ; and when he had taken his leave of Agrippa, he pursued his voyage, and landed at Oaisarea in a few days' time, as having favourable winds; from whence he went to Jerusa- lem, aud there gathered all the people to- gether to au assembly, not a few being there out of the country also. So he came to them, and gave them a par- ticular account of all his journey, aud of the affairs of all the Jews in Asia, how by his means they would live without in- jurious treatment for the time to come. He also told them of the entire good for- tune he had met with, aud how he had administered the government, and had not neglected any thing which was for their advantage; aud, as he was very joyful, he now remitted to them the fourth part of their taxes for the last year. Accord- ingly, the}' were so pleased with his favour and speech to them, that they went their ways with great gladness, and wished the king all manuer of happiness. CHAPTER III. Disturbances in Herod's family on his preferring Antipater before the rest. But now the affairs in Herod's family were in more and more disorder, and became more severe upon him, by the hatred of Salome to the young men [Alexander and Aristobulus], which de- scended as it were by inheritance [from their mother Mariamne] : and as she bad fully succeeded against their mother, so she proceeded to that degree of madness and insolence, as to endeavour that none of her posterity might be left alive, who might have it in their power to revenge her death. The young men bad also somewhat of a bold and uneasy disposition toward their father, occasioned by the re- membrance of what their mother had un- justly suffered, aud by their own affec- tation of dominion. The old grudge was 12 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVl. also renewed ; and they cast reproaches on Salome and Pheroras, who requited the young men with malicious designs, and actually laid treacherous snares for them. Now, as for this hatred, it was equal on both sides, but the manner of exerting that hatred was different; for, as for the young men, they were rash, reproaching and affronting the others openly, and were inexperienced enough to think it the most generous to declare their minds in that undaunted manner; but the others did not take that method, but made use of calumnies, after a subtile and a spiteful manner, still provoking the young men, and imagining that their boldness might in time turn to the offering violence to their father; for, inasmuch as they were not ashamed of the pretended crimes of their mother, nor thought she suffered justly, these supposed that they might at length exceed all bounds, and induce them to think they ought to be avenged on their father, though it were by despatching him with their own hands. At length it came to this, that the whole city was full of their discourses, and, as is usual in such contests, the unskilfulness of the young men was pitied ; but the con- trivance of Salome was too hard for them, and what imputations she laid upon them came to be believed, by means of their own conduct; for they were so deeply affected with the death of their mother, that while they said both she and them- selves were in a miserable case, they vehemently complained of her pitiable end, which indeed was truly such, and said that they were themselves in a piti- able case also, because they were forced to live with those that had been her mur- derers, and to be partakers with them. These disorders increased greatly, and the king's absence abroad had afforded a fit opportunity for that increase; but as soon as Herod had returned, and had made the foremen tioned speech to the multitude, Pheroras and Salome let fall words immediately, as if he were in great danger, and as if the youug men openly threatened that they would not spare him any longer, but revenge their mother's death upon him. They also added another circumstance, that their hopes were iixed on Archelaus, the king of Cappadocia, that they should be able by his means to come to Caesar and accuse their father. Upon hearing such things, Herod was immediately disturbed ; and, indeed, was the more astonished, because the same- things were related to him by some others also. He then called to mind his former calamity, and considered that the dis- orders in his family had hindered him from enjoying any comfort from those that were dearest to him, or from his wife, whom he loved so well ; aud sus- pecting that his future troubles would soon be heavier and greater than those that were past, he was in great confusion of mind, for Divine Providence had, in reality, conferred upon him a great many outward advantages for his happiness, even beyond his hopes, but the troubles he had at home were such as he never expected to have met with, and rendered him unfortunate; nay, both sorts came upon him to such a degree as no one could imagine, and made it a doubtful question, whether, upon the comparison of both, he ought to have exchanged so great a success of outward good things for so great mis- fortune at home, or whether he ought not to have chosen to avoid the calamities re- lating to his family, though he had, for a compensation, never been possessed of the admired grandeur of a kingdom. As he was thus disturbed and afflicted, in order to depress these youug men, he brought to court another of his sons, that was born to him when he was a private man; his name was Antipater; yet did he not then indulge him as he did after- ward, when he was quite overcome by him, and let him do every thing as he pleased, but rather with a design of de- pressing the insolence of the sons of Mariamne, and managing this elevation of his son that it might be a warning to them; for this bold behaviour of theirs [he thought] would not be so great, if they were once persuaded that the suc- cession to the kingdom did not appertain to them alone, or must of necessity come to them. So he introduced Antipater as their antagonist, and imagined that he had made a good provision for discou- raging their pride, and that after this was done to the young men, there might be a proper season for expecting these to be of a better disposition : but the event proved otherwise than he intended, for the young men thought he did them a very great injury; and as Antipater was a shrewd man, when he had once obtained this de- gree of freedom, and began to expect greater things than he had before hoped for, he had but one single design in his Chap. IV. J ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWb. ;: head, and that was to distress his brethren, and not at all to yield to them the pre- eminence, but to keep close to his father, who was already alienated from them by the calumnies he had heard about them, and ready to be wrought upon in any way his zeal against them should advise him to pursue, that he might be continually more and more -severe against them. Accord- ingly, all the reports that were spread abroad came from him, while he avoided himself the suspicion, as if those dis- coveries proceeded from him : but he rather chose to make use of those persons for his assistants that were unsuspected, and such as might be believed to speak truth by reason of the good-will they bore to the king; and, indeed, there were already not a few who cultivated a friend- ship with An ti pater, in hopes of gaining somewhat by him, and these were the men who most of all persuaded Herod, because they appeared to speak thus out. of their good-will to him : and while these joint accusations, which, from various founda- tions, supported one another's veracity, the young men themselves afforded fur- ther occasions to Antipater also; for they were observed to shed tears often, on account of the injury that was offered them, and had their mother in their mouths; and among their friends they ventured to reproach their father, as not acting justly by them ; all which things were, with an evil intention, reserved in memory by Antipater against a proper opportunity; and when they were told to Herod, with aggravations, the disorder increased so much, that it brought a great tumult into the family; for while the king was very angry at imputations that were laid upon the sous of Mariamne, and was desirous to humble them, he still increased the honour that, he had bestowed on Antipater, and was at last so overcome by his persuasions, that he brought his mother to court also. He also wrote fre- quently to Caesar iu favour of him, and more earnestly recommended him to his care particularly. And when Agrippa had returned to Rome, after he had finished his ten year's government in Asia,* Herod sailed from Judea; and when he had met with him, he had none with him but Antipater, whom he de- * This interval of ten years for the duration of Marcus Agrippa'a government in Asia, seems to be true, and agreeable to the Roman history. See Usher's Annals at A. M. 3392. livcred to Agrippa, that he might take him along with him, together with many presents, that so he might become Caesar's friend, insomuch that things already looked as if he had all his father's favour, and that the young men were already en- tirely rejected from any hopes of the kingdom. CHAPTER IV. Herod brings Alexander and Ari.-tobulus before Cassar — Alexander's defence, and reconciliation to his father. And now what happened during Anti- pater's absence augmented the honour to which he had been promoted, and his apparent eminence above his brethren ; for he had made a great figure iu Eome, because Herod had sent recommendations of him to all his friends there ; only he was grieved that he was not at home, nor had proper opportunities of perpetually calumniating his brethren ; and his chief fear was, lest his father should alter his mind, and entertain a more favourable opinion of the sons of Mariamne; and as he had this in his mind, he did not desist from his purpose, but continually sent from Rome any such stories as he hoped might grieve and irritate his father against his brethren, under pretence, in- deed, of a deep concern for his preserva- tion, but in truth, such as his malicious mind dictated, in order to purchase a greater hope of the succession, which yet was already great in itself: and thus he did till he had excited such a degree of auger in Herod, that he had already be- come very ill disposed toward the young men ; but still while he delayed to ex- ercise so violent a disgust against them, and that he might not either be too re- miss or too rash, and so offend, he thought it best to sail to Rome, and there accuse his sons before Ctcsar, and not indulge himself in any such crime as might be heinous enough to be suspected of im- piety. But, as he was going up to Rome, it happened that he made such haste as to meet Cscsar at the city of Aquilei ; so when he came to the speech of Ca>sar, he asked for a time for hearing this great cause, wherein " he thought himself very miserable, and presented his sons there, and accused them of their mad actions, and of their attempts against him; that they were enemies to him ; and, by all the means they were able, did their endea« 14 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Hoof XVI. vours to show their hatred to their own father, and would take away his life, ami bo obtain his kingdom, after the most barbarous manner: that ho had power from Caesar to dispose of it, not by neces- sity, but by choice, to him who shall ex- eroise the greatest piety toward him; while these his sons are not so desirous of ruling, as they are, upon a disappointment :'. to expose their own life, if so be they may but deprive their father of his life; so wild and polluted has their mind by time become, out of their hatred to him : that whereas he had a long time borne this his misfortune, he was now compelled to lay it before Caasar, and to pollute his ears with such language, while he himself wanted to know what severity they have ever Buffered from him, or what hardships he had ever laid upon them to make them complain of him; aud how they can think it just that he should not be lord of that kingdom which he, iu a long time, and with great danger, had gained, and n< t allow him to keep it aud dispose of it to him who should deserve best ; and this, with other advantages, he prop, aes as a reward for the piety of such an one as will hereafter imitate the care he had taken of it. and that such an one may gain so great a requital as that is: and that it is an impious thing for them to pretend to meddle with-it beforehand, for he who hath ever the kingdom iu his view, at the same time reckons upon pro- curing the death of his father, because otherwise he cannot come at the govern- ment : that as for himself, he had hitherto given them all that he was able, aud what was agreeable to such as are subject to the royal authority, and the sons of a kiug; what ornaments they wanted, with ser- vants and delicate fare ; and had married them into the most illustrious families, the one [Aristobulus] to his Bister's daughter, but Alexander to the daughter of King Arehelaus ; aud, what was the greatest favour ol' all, when their crimes - i wry bad, and he had authority to punish them, yet had he not made use oi _ . in.-t them, but had brought them Caesar, their common benefactor, and had not used the seventy which either as a rather who had been impiously abused, or as a king who had been as- saulted treacherously, he might have done, but made them staud upon the level with him in judgment ; that, how- 9vcr, it was necessary that all this should not be passed over without punishment, nor himself live in the greatest fears; nay, that it was not for their own ad- vantage tii see the light of the sun after what they had done, although they should escape at this time, since they had done the vilest things, and would certainly sutler the greatest punishments that ever were known among mankind. These were the accusations which Herod laid with great vehemeney against his sons before Caesar. Now the young men, both while he was speaking, and chiefly at his concluding, wept, ami were in eon- fusion. Now as to themselves, they knew in their own consciences they were inno- cent, but because they were accused by their father, they were sensible, as the truth was, that it was hard for them to make their apology, since, though they were at liberty to speak their minds freely, as the occasion required, and might with force and earnestness refute the accusation, yet was it not now decent so to do. There was, therefore, a difficulty how they should be able to speak ; and tears, and at leugtb a deep groan followed, while they were afraid, that if they said nothing, they should seem to be iu this difficulty from a consciousness of guilt, nor had they any defence ready, by reason of their youth, and the disorder they were under j yet was not Caesar unapprised, when he looked upon them in the confusion they were in, that their delay to make their defence did not arise from any consciousness of their great enormities, but from their uuskil- I fulness and modest}-. They were also commiserated by those that were there iu particular; aud they moved their father's affections in earnest, till he had much ado to conceal them. But when they saw there was a kind . disposition arisen both iu him aud in Caesar, and that every one of the rest did either shed Ufirs, or at least did all grieve with them, the one of them, whose name was Alexander, called to his father, and, at- tempted to answer his accusation, and said, "0 father, the benevolence thou hast showed to us is evident, even in this very judicial procedure, for hadst thou any pernicious intentions about us, thou hadst not produced us here before the common saviour of all, for it was in thy power, both as a king and as a father, to punish t lie guilty ; but by thus bringing us to Rome, and making Ciesar himself a wit- ness to what is done, thou intiinatest that Chap. IV.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 15 thou intendest to Bare us; for no one that hatli a design to alay B man will bring him to the templet, and to the altars; yet are our circumstances still worse, for we can- not endure to live ourselves any longer, if it he believed that we have injured such a father; nay, perhaps it would be worse for us to live with this suspicion upon us, that we have injured him, than to die without such guilt: and if our open de- fence may be taken to be true, we shall be happy, both in pacifying thee, and in escaping the danger we are in ; but if this calamity so prevails, it is more than enough that we have seen the sun this day; which, why should we see, if this suspicion he fixed upon us? Now it is easy to say of young men, that they desired to reign; and to say further, that this evil proceeds from the case of our unhappy mother. This is abundantly sufficient to produce our present misfortune out of the former; but consider well, whether such an accusation does not suit all such young men, and may not be said of them all promiscuously; for nothing can hinder him that reigns, if he have children, and their mother be dead, but the father may have a suspicion upon all his sons, as in- tending some treachery to him : but a suspicion is not sufficient to prove such an impious practice. Now let any man say, whether we have actually and insolently attempted any such thing, whereby actions otherwise incredible used to be made credi- ble ? Can anybody prove that poison hath been prepared ? or prove a conspi- racy of our equals, or the corruption of servants, or letters written against thee ? though, indeed, there are none of those things hut have sometimes been pretended by way of calumny, when they were never done; for a royal family that is at variance with itself is a terrible thing; and that which thou callest a reward of piety, often becomes, among very wicked men, such a foundation of hope, as makes them leave no sort of mischief untried. Nor does any one lay any wicked practices to our charge ; but as to calumnies by hearsay, how can he put an end to them, who will not hear what we have to say? have we talked with too great freedom; yes, but not against thee, for that would be unjust, but against those that never conceal any thing that is spoken to them. Hath either of us lamented our mother? yes; but not because she is dead, but because she was evil spoken of by those that had do reason so to do. Are we desii that dominion which we know our I i- possessed off For wbal reason can we do so? If we already have royal ho- nours, as we have, should not we labour in vain ? And if we have them not, vet are not we in hopes of them ? Or, Bnpposing that we had killed thee, could we expect toohtain thy kingdom? while neither the earth would let us tread upon it, nor the sea let us sail upon it, after snch an action as that : nay, the religion of all your subjects, and the piety of the whole nation, would have prohibited parricides from as- suming the government, and from entering into that most holy temple which was built by thee. * k>ut suppose we had made light of other dangers, can any murderer go off unpunished while I is alive? We are thy sons, and not so impious or so thoughtless as that eomes to, though, perhaps, more unfortunate than is convenient for thee, liut in case thou ueither findest any cau.v s of complaint, dot any treacherous designs, what suf- ficient evidence hast thou to make such a wickedness of ours credible ? Our mother is dead, indeed, but then what befell her might be an instruction to us to caution, and not an incitement to wickedness. We are willing to make a larger apology for ourselves; but actions never done do not admit of discourse; nay, we will make this agreement with thee, and that before Cujsar, the lord of all, who is now a medi- ator between us, if thou, 0 father, canst bring thyself by the evidence of truth, to have a mind free from suspicion concerning us, let us live, though even then we shall live in an unhappy way, for to be accused of great acts of wickedness, though falsely, is a terrible thing; but if thou hast any fear remaining, continue thou on in thy pious life, we will give this reason for our uwu conduct; our life is not so deniable to us as to desire to have it, if it tend to the harm of our father who gave it us." * Since some prejudiced men have indulged a wild suspicion, that Josephus's history of U rebuilding the temple i- no better than a fable, it way not be amiss to take notice of tin- sioual clause in the speech of Alexander before his father Herod, in his and his brother's vindication, which mentions the temple as known by everybody to have been built by Herod, Bee John iL 20. £ee also another speech of Herod's own to the young men that pulled down his golden eagle from the front of the temple, where he takes notice bow the building of the tempi.; cost him a vast sum: and that the Asamoneans, in those 12a years they hi Id the government, were not able to i erform .-o ^reat a work to the honour of God as this was. 16 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVI. When Alexander had thus spoken, Cae- sar, who did not believe so gross a calumny, was still more moved by it, and looked intently upon Herod, and perceived he was a little confounded : the persons there present were under an anxiety about the young men, and the fame that was spread abroad made the king hated, for the very incredibility of the calumny, and the com- miseration of the flower of youth, the beauty of body, which were in the young men, pleaded strongly for assistance, and the more so on this account, that Alex- ander had made their defence with dexte- rity and prudence : nay, they did not themselves any longer continue in their former countenances, which had been be- dewed with tears and cast downward to the ground, but now there arose in them hope of the best : and the king himself appeared not to have had foundation enough to build such an accusation upon, he having no real evidence wherewith to convict them. Indeed, he wanted some apology for making the accusation ; but Caesar, after some delay, said, that although the young men were thoroughly innocent of that for which they were calumniated, yet had they been so far to blame, that they had not demeaned themselves toward their father so as to prevent that suspicion which was spread abroad concerning them. He also exhorted Herod -to lay all such suspicions aside, and to be reconciled to his sons : for that it was not just to give any credit to such reports concerning his own children ; and that this repentance on both sides might heal those breaches that had happened between them, and might improve their good-will toward one another, whereby those on both sides, ex- cusing the rashness of their suspicions, might resolve to bear a greater degree of affection toward each other than they had before. After Ceesar had given them this admonition, he beckoned to the young men. When, therefore, they were dis- posed to fall down, to make intercession to their father, he took them up, and em- braced them, as they were in tears, and took each of them distinctly in his arms, till not one of those that were present, whether freeman or slave, but was deeply affected at what they saw. Then did they return thanks to Cassar, and went away together; and with them went Antipater, with an hypocritical pre- tence that he rejoiced at this reconciliation. And in the last days they were with Caesar, Herod made him a present of 300 talents, as he was then exhibiting shows and largesses to the people of Rome : and Caesar made him a present of half the revenue of the copper-mines in Cyprus, and committed the care of the other half to him, and honoured him with other gifts and incomes : and as to his own kingdom, he left it in his power to appoint which of his sons he pleased for his successor, or to distribute it in parts to every one, that the dignity might thereby come to them all ; and when Herod was disposed to make such a settlement immediately, Caesar said he would not give him leave to deprive himself, while he was alive, of the power over his kingdom, or over his sons. After this, Herod returned to Judea again; but during his absence, no small part of his dominions about Trachon had revolted, whom yet the commanders he left there had vanquished, aud compelled to a submission again. Now, as Herod was sailing with his sons, and had come over against Cilicia, to [the island] Eleusa, which had now changed its name for Se-* baste, he met with Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, who received him kindly, as rejoicing that he was reconciled to his sons, and that the accusation against Alex- ander, who had married his daughter, was at an end. They also made one another such presents as it became kings to make. From thence Herod came to Judea and to the temple, where he made a speech to the people concerning what had been done in this his journey : he- also discoursed to them about Caesar's kindness to him, and about as many of the particulars he had done as he thought it for his advantage other people should be acquainted with. At last he turned his speech to the admo- nition of his sons; and exhorted those that lived at court, and the multitude, to concord: and informed them that his sons were to reign after him ; Antipater first, and then Alexander and Aristobulus, the sons of Mariamne ; but he desired that at present they should all have re- gard to himself, and esteem hiin king and lord of all, since he was not yet hindered by old age, but was in that period of life when he must be the most skilful in go- verning ; and that he was not deficient in other arts of management that might enable him to govern the kingdom well, aud to rule over his children also. He further told the rulers under him, and the Chap. V.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 17 soldiery, that in case they would look upon him alone, their life would be led in a peaceable manner, and they would make one another happy ; and when he had said this, he dismissed the assembly. Which speech was acceptable to the greatest part of the audience, but not so to them all ; for the contention among his sons, and the hopes he had given them, occasioned thoughts and desires of innovations among them CHAPTER V. Herod celebrates the games that were to return every fifth year on the building of Ciesarea. ABOUT this time it was that Cresarea Sebaste, which he had built, was finished. The entire building being accomplished in the tenth year, the solemnity of it fell into the twenty-eighth year of Herod's reign, and into the 192d Olympiad ; there was accordingly a great festival, and most sumptuous preparations made pre- sently, in order to its dedication; for he had appointed a contention in music, and games to be performed naked ; he had also gotten ready a great number of those that tight single combats, and of beasts for the like purpose; horse-races also, and the most chargeable of such sports and shows as used to be exhibited at Rome, and in other places. He consecrated this combat to Caasar, and ordered it to be celebrated every fifth year. He also sent all sorts of ornaments for it out of his own furniture, that it might want nothing to make it de- cent ; nay, Julia, Caesar's wife, sent a great part of her most valuable furniture [from Rome], insomuch, that he had no want of any thing; the sum of them all was estimated at 500 talents. Now, when a great multitude had come to that city to see the shows, as well as the ambassa- dors whom other people sent, on account of the benefits they had received [from Herod], he entertained them all in the public inns, and at public tables, and with perpetual feasts; this solemnity having in the day-time the diversions of the fights, and in the night-time such merry meet- ings as cost vast sums of money, and pub- licly demonstrated the generosity of his soul; for in all his undertakings he was ambitious to exhibit what exceeded what- soever had been done before of the same kind ; and it is related that Caesar and Agrippa often said, that the domiuions of Herod were too small for the greatness of Vol. II.— 2 his soul ; for that he deserved to have both all the kingdom of Syria, and that of Egypt also. After this solemnity and these festivals were over, Herod erected another city in the plain called Capharsaba, where he chose out a fit place, both for plenty of water and goodness of soil, and proper for the production of what was there planted, where a river encompassed the city itself, and a grove of the best trees for magnitude was round about it: this he named Anti- patris, from his father, Antipater. He also built upon another spot of ground above Jericho, of the same name with his mother, a place of great security, and very pleasant for habitation, and called it Cy- prus. He also dedicated the finest monu- ments to his brother Phasaelus, on account of the great natural affection there had been between them, by erecting a tower in the city itself, not less than the tower of Pharos, which he named Phasaelus, which was at once a part of the strong defences of the city, and a memorial for him that was deceased, because it bore his name. He also built a city of the same in the valley of Jericho, as you go from it northward, whereby he rendered the neighbouring country more fruitful, by the cultivation its inhabitants introduced ; and this also he called Phasaelus. But as for his other benefits, it is im- possible to reckon them up, those which he bestowed on cities, both in Syria and in Greece, and in all the places he came to in his voyages: for he seems to have conferred, and that after a most plentiful manner, what would minister to many necessities, and the building of public works, and gave them the money that was necessary to such works as wanted it, to support them upon the failure of their other revenues; but what was the greatest and most illustrious of all his works, he erected Apollo's temple at Rhodes, at his own expense, and gave them a great num- ber of talents of silver for the repairs of their fleet. He also built the greatest part of the public edifices for the inhabit- ants of Nicopolis, at Actium ;* and for the Antiochians, the inhabitants of the * Dr. Hudson here gives us the words of Sueto- nius concern ing this Nicopolis, when Augustus re built it: — "And that the memory of the victory at Actium might be celebrated the more afterward, he built Nicopolis at Actium, and appointed public shows to be there exhibited every fifth year." In Augus. sect. 18. 18 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVL principal city of Syria, where a broad street cuts through the place leugthways, he built cloisters along it on both sides, and laid the open road with polished stone, which was of very great advantage to the inhabitants; and as to the Olympic games, which were in a very low condition, by reason of the failure of their revenues, he recovered their reputation, and appointed revenues for their maintenance, and made that solemn meeting more venerable, as to the sacrifices and other ornaments ; and by reason of this vast liberality, he was generally declared in their inscriptions to be one of the perpetual managers of those games. Now some there are, who stand amazed at the diversity of Herod's nature and purposes ; for when we have respect to his magnificence, and the benefits which he bestowed on all mankind, there is no pos- sibility for even those who had the least respect for him to deny, or not openly to confess, that he had a nature vastly bene- ficent ; but when any one looks upon the punishments he inflicted, and the injuries he did, not only to his subjects, but to his nearest relations, and takes notice of his severe and unrelenting disposition there, he will be forced to allow that he was brutish, and a stranger to all humanity; insomuch that these men suppose his na- ture to be different, and sometimes at contradictions with itself; but I am my- self of another opinion, and imagine that the occasion of both these sorts of actions was one and the same ; for, being a man ambitious of honour, and quite overcome by that passion, he was induced to be magnificent, wherever there appeared any hopes of a future memorial, or of reputa- tion at present ; and, as his expenses were beyond his abilities, he was necessitated to be harsh to his subjects; for the per- sons on whom he expended his money, were so many, that they made him a very bad procurer of it; and because he was conscious that he was hated by those un- der him, for the injuries he did them, he thought it not an easy thing to amend his offences, for that was inconvenient for his revenue ; he therefore strove on the other side to make their ill-will an occasion of his gains. As to his own court, therefore, if any one was not very obsequious to him in his language, and would not confess himself to be his slave, or but seemed to think of any innovation in his govern- ment, he was not able to contain himself, but prosecuted his very kindred and friends, and punished them as if they were enemies ; and this wickedness he under- took out of a desire that he might be himself alone honoured. Now for this my assertion about that passion of his, we have the greatest evidence, by what he did to honour C?esar and Agrippa, and his other friends; for with what honours he paid his respects to them who were his superiors, the same did he desire to be paid to himself; and what he thought the most excellent present he could make another, he discovered an inclination to have the like presented to himself; but now the Jewish nation is by their law a stranger to all such things, and ac- customed to prefer righteousness to glo- ry ; for which reason that nation was not agreeable to him, because it was out of their power to flatter the king's ambi- tion with statues or temples, or any other such performances ; and this seems to me to have been at once the occasion of He- rod's crimes as to his own courtiers and counsellors, and of his benefactions as to foreigners and those that had no relation to him. CHAPTER VI. The Jews in Asia complain of the Greeks to Caesar. Now the cities ill treated the Jews in Asia, and all those also of the same na- tion who lived in Libya, which joins to Cyrene, while the former kings had given them equal privileges with the other citi- zens : but the Greeks affronted them at this time, and that so far as to take away their sacred money, and to do them mis- chief on other particular occasions. When, therefore, they were thus afflicted, and found uo end of the barbarous treatment they met with among the Greeks, they sent ambassadors to Caesar on those ac- counts; who gave them the same privi- leges as they had before, and sent letters to the same purpose to the governors of the provinces, copies of which I subjoin here, as testimonials of the aucient fa- vourable disposition the Roman emperors had toward us. " Caesar Augustus, high priest and tri- bune of the people, ordains thus : — Since the nation of the Jews have been found grateful to the Roman people, not only at this time, but in times past also, and chiefly Ilyrcanus the high priest, under Chap. VI.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. LS my father,* Caesar the emperor, it seemed good to me and my counsellors, according to the sentence and oath of the people of Rome, that the Jews have liberty to make use of their own customs, according to the laws of their forefathers, as the}' made use of them under Hyrcanus, the high priest of Almighty God; and that their sacred money be not touched, but be sent to Jerusalem, and that it be committed to the care of the receivers at Jerusalem; and that they be not obliged to go before any judge on the Sabbath-day, nor on the day of the preparation to it, after the ninth hour,j but if any be caught stealing their holy books, or their sacred money, whether it be out of the synagogue or public school, he shall be deemed a sacri- legious person, and his goods shall be brought into the public treasury of the Romans. And I give order, that the tes- timonial which they have given me, on account of my regard to that piety which I exercise toward all mankind, and out of regard to Caius Marcus Censorinus, toge- ther with the present decree, be proposed in that most eminent place which hath been consecrated to me by the community of Asia at Ancyra. And if any one trans- gress any part of what is above decreed, he shall be severely punished." This was inscribed upon a pillar in the temple of Caesar. "Caesar to Norbanus Flaccus, sendeth greeting. Let those Jews, how many so- ever they be, who have been used, accord- ing to their ancient custom, to send their sacred money to Jerusalem, do the same freely." These were the decrees of Caesar. Agrippa also did himself write, after the maimer following, on behalf of the Jews: — " Agrippa, to the magistrates, se- nate, and people of the Ephesians, send- eth greeting. I will that the care and custody of the sacred money that is carried to tha temple at Jerusalem be left to the Jews of Asia, to do with it according to their ancient custom ; and that such as steal that sacred money of the Jews, and fly to a sanctuary, shall be taken thence and delivered to the Jews, by the same law that sacrilegious persons are taken * Augustus here calls Julius Cajsarhis "father," though by birth he was only his " uncle," or. ac- count of his adoption by him. | This is authentic evidence that the Jews, in the days of Augustus, began to prepare for the cele- bration of the Sabbath at the ninth hour on Friday, as the tradition of the elders did, it seems, then re- quire of them. 2K thence. I have also written to Sylvanus the praetor, that no one compel the Jews to come before a judge on the Sabbath- day." "Marcus Agrippa to the magistrates, senate, and people of Cyreue, seudeth greeting. The Jews of Cyrene have in- terceded with me for the performance of what Agustus sent orders about to Flavius, the then praetor of Libya, and to the other procurators of that province, that the sacred money may be sent to Jerusalem freely, as hath been their custom from their forefathers, they complaining that they are abused by certain informers, aud under pretence of taxes which were not due, are hindered from sending them ; which I command to be restored without any diminution or disturbance given to them : and if any of that sacred mouey in the cities be taken from their proper re- ceivers, I further enjoin that the same be exactly returned to the Jews in that place." "Caius Norbanus Flaccus, proconsul, to the magistrates of the Sardians, sendeth greeting. Caesar hath written to me, and commanded me not to forbid the Jews, how many soever they be, from assembling together, according to the custom of their forefathers, nor from sending their money to Jerusalem : I have therefore written to you, that you may know that both Caasar and I would have you act accordingly." Nor did Julius Antouius, the proconsul, write otherwise. "To the magistrates, senate, aud people of the Ephesians/ sendeth greeting. As 1 was dispensing justice at Ephesus, on the ides of Fe- bruary, the Jews that dwell in Asia de- monstrated to me that Augustas and Agrippa had permitted them to use their own laws and customs, and to offer those their first fruits, which every one of them freely offers to the Deity on account of piety, aud to carry them in a company together to Jerusalem without disturbance. They also petitioned me, that I would con- firm what had been granted by Augustus and Agrippa by my owu sanetiou. I would, therefore, have you take notice, that according to the will of Augustus aud Agrippa, I permit them to use and do according to the customs of their fore- fathers, without disturbance." I have been obliged to set down these decrees, because the present history of our own acts will go generally among the Greeks ; and I have hereby demonstrated 20 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVI to them, that we have formerly been in great esteem, and have not been pro- hibited by those governors we were under from keeping any of the laws of our fore- fathers; nay, that we have been sup- ported by them, while we followed our own religion, and the worship we paid to God : and I frequently make mention of these decrees, in order to reconcile other people to us, and to take away the causes of that hatred which unreasonable men bear to us. As for our customs, there is no nation which always makes use of the same, and in every city almost we meet with them different from one another; but natural justice is most agreeable to the advantage of all men equally, both Greeks and barbarians, to which our laws have the greatest regard, and thereby render us, if we abide in them after a pure manner, benevolent and friendly to all men : on which account we have rea- son to expect the like return from others, and to inform them that they ought not to esteem difference of positive institutions a sufficient cause of alienation, but [join with us in] the pursuit of virtue and pro- bity, for this belongs to all men in com- mon, and of itself alone is sufficient for the preservation of human life. I now return to the thread of my history.* CHAPTER VII. Herod removes part of the riches from the tomb of David — Sedition consequent thereon. As for Herod, he had spent vast sums about the cities, both without and within his own kingdom : and as he had before heard that Ilyrcanus, who had beeu king- before him, had opened David's sepulchre, and taken out of it 3000 talents of silver, and that there was a much greater number left behind, and, indeed, enough to suffice all his wants, he had a great while an in- tention to make the attempt; and at this time he opened that sepulchre by night, and went into it, and endeavoured that it should not be at all known in the city, *The concluding part of this chapter is re- markable, as justly distinguishing natural justice, religion, and morality, from positive institutions, in all countries, and evidently preferring the former before the latter, as did the true prophets of God always under the Old Testament, and Christ and his apostles always under the New: whence our Josephus aeems to have been at this time nearer Christianity than were the scribes and Pharisees of his age; who, as we know from the New Testa- ooent, wero entirely of a different opinion and vactic}. but took only his most faithful friends with him. As for any money, he found none, as Hyrcanus had done, but that furniture of gold, and those precious goods that were laid up there ; all which he took away. However, he had a great desire to make a more diligent search, and to go further in, even as far as the very bodies of David and Solomon, where two of his guards were slain, by a flame that burst out upon those that went in, as the report was. So he was terribly affrighted, and went out, and built a propitiatory monu- ment of that fright he had been in ; and this of white stone, at the mouth of the sepulchre, and that at a great expense also. And even Nicolaus* his historio- grapher, makes mention of this monument built by Herod, though he does not mention his going down into the sepul- chre, as knowing that action to be of ill repute ; and many other things he treats of in the same manner in his book ; for he wrote in Herod's lifetime, and under his reign, and so as to please him, and as a servant to him, touching upon nothing but what tended to his glory, and openly excusing many of his notorious crimes, and very diligently concealing them. And as he was desirous to put handsome colours on the death of Mariamne and her sons, which were barbarous actions in the king, he tells falsehoods about the incon- tinence of Mariamne, and the treacherous designs of his sons upon him; and thus he proceeded in his whole work, making a pompous encomium upon what just actions he had done, but earnestly apologizing for his unjust ones. Indeed, a man, as I said, may have a great deal to say by way of excuse for Nicolaus, for he did not so properly write this as a history for others, as somewhat that might be subservient to the king himself. As for ourselves, who come of a family nearly allied to the Asamonean kings, and on that account have an honourable place, which is the priesthoood, we think it indecent to say any thing that is false about them, and accordingly, we have described their actions after an unblemished and upright * It is here worth our observation, how careful Josephus was as to the discovery of truth in Herod's historj', since he would not follow Nicolaus of Da- mascus himself, so great an historian, where there was great reason to suspect that he had flattered Herod ; which impartiality in history Josephus hero solemnly professes, and of which impartiality he has given more demonstrations than almost any other historian. Chap VI.".] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. •21 maimer. And although we reverence I many of Herod's posterity, who still reign, yet do we pay a greater regard to truth than to them, and this though it sometimes happens that wc incur their dis- pleasure by so doing. And, indeed, Herod's troubles in his family seemed to be augmented, by rea- son of this attempt he made upon David's sepulchre ; whether Divine vengeance in- creased the calamities he lay under, in order to make them incurable, or whether fortune made an assault upon him, in those cases, wherein the seasonableness of the cause made it strongly believed that the calamities came upon him for his im- piety; for the tumult was like a civil war in his palace; and their hatred toward one another was like that where each one strove to exceed another in calumnies. However, Antipater used stratagems per- petually against his brethren, and that very cunningly : while abroad he loaded them with accusations, but still took upon him frequently to apologize for them, that his apparent benevolence to them might make him be believed, and forward his attempts against them; by which means he, after various manners, circumvented his father, who believed that all he did was for his preservation. Herod also recommended Ptolemy, who was a great director of the affairs of his kingdom, to Antipater ; and consulted with his mother about the public affairs also. And, indeed, these were all in all, and did what they pleased, and made the king angry against any other persons, as he thought it might be to their own advantage : but still the sons of Mariamne were in a worse and worse condition perpetually; and while they were thrust out, and set in a more dishonourable rank, who yet by birth were the most noble, they could not bear the dishonour. And for the women, Glaphyra, Alexander's wife, the daughter of Archelaus, hated Salome, both because of her love to her husband, and because Glaphyra seemed to behave herself some- what insolently toward Salome's daughter, who was the wife of Aristobulus, which equality of hers to herself Glaphyra took very impatiently. Now, besides this second contention that had fallen among them, neither did the king's brother Pheroras keep himself out of trouble, but had a particular found- ation for suspicion and hatred ; for he wTas overcome with the charms of his wife, to L. such a degree of madness, that be despised the king's daughter, to whom he had beec betrothed, and wholly bent his mind to the other, who had been but a servant. Herod also was grieved by the dishonour that was done him, because he had be- stowed many favours upon him, and ba 1 advanced him to that height of power that he was almost a partner with him in the kingdom ; and saw that he had not made him a due return for his favours, and esteemed himself unhappy on that ac- count. So, upon Pheroras's unworthy refusal, he gave the damsel to Phasaelus's son ; but after some time, when he thought the heat of his brother's affection was over, he blamed him for his former conduct, and desired him to take his second daughter, whose name was Cypros. Ptolemy, also, advised him to leave off affronting his brother, and to forsake her whom he had loved, for that it was a base thing to be so enamoured of a servant, as to deprive himself of the king's good-will to him, and become an occasion of his trouble, and make himself hated by him. Pheroras knew that this advice would be for his own advantage, particularly be- cause he had been accused before, and forgiven ; so he put his wife away, although he already had a son by her, and engaged to the king that he would take his second daughter, and agreed that the thirtieth day after should be the day of marriage; and swore he would have no further conversation with her whom he had put away; but when the thirty days were over, he was such a slave to his affections, that he no longer performed any thing he had promised, but continued still with his former wife. This oc- casioned Herod to grieve openly, and made him angry, while the king dropped one word or other against Pheroras peF- petually; and many made the king's auger an opportunity fir raising calumnies against him. Nor had the king any longer a single quiet day or hour, but occasions of one fresh quarrel or another arose among his relations, and those that were dearest to him ; for Salome was of a harsh temper, and ill-natured to Mariamne's sous; nor would she suffer her uwu daughter, who was the wife of Aristo- bulus, one of those young men, to bear a good-will to her husbaud, but persuaded her to tell her if he said any thing to her in private, and when any misunderstand: ings happened, as is common, she raised 22 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. Book XVI. a great many suspicions out of it : by which means she learned all their con- cerns, and made the damsel ill-natured to the young man. And in order to gratify her mother, she often said that the young men used to mention Mariamne when they were by themselves; and that they hated their father, and were continually threatening, that if they had once got the kingdom, they would make Herod's sons by his other wives country schoolmasters, for that the present education which was given them, and their diligence in learn- ing, fitted them for such an employment. And as for the women, whenever they saw them adorned with their mother's clothes, they threatened, that instead of their present gaudy apparel, they should be clothed in sackcloth, and confined so closely that they should not see the light of the sun. These stories were presently carried by Salome to the king, who was troubled to hear them, and endeavoured to make up matters : but these suspicions afflicted him, and becoming more and more uneasy, he believed everybody against everybody. However, upon his rebuking his sons, and hearing the defence they made for themselves, he was easier for a while, though a little afterward much worse accidents came upon him. For Pheroras came to Alexander, the husband of Glaphyra, who was the daughter of Archelaus, as we have already told you, and said that he had heard from Salome, that Herod was enamoured of Glaphyra, and that his passion for her was incurable. When Alexander heard that, he was all on fire, from his youth and jealousy; and he interpreted the instances of Herod's obliging behaviour to her, which were very frequent, for the worse, which came from those suspicions he had on account of that word which fell from Pheroras; nor could he conceal his grief at the thing, but informed him what words Phe- roras had said. Upon which Herod was in a greater disorder than ever; and not bearing such a false calumny, which was to his shame, was much disturbed at it, and often did he lament the wickedness of his domestics, and how good he had been to them, and how ill the requitals they had made him. So he sent for Phe- roras, and reproached him, and said, "Thou vilest of all men! art thou come to that unmeasurable and extravagant degree of ingratitude, as not only to sup- nose such thiugs of mc, but to speak of them? I now, indeed, perceive what thy intentions are : it is not only thy aim to reproach me, when thou usest such words to my son, but thereby to persuade him to plot against me, and get me destroyed by poison ; and who is there, if he had not a good genius at his elbow, as hath my son, that would bear such a suspicion of his father, but would revenge himself upon him ? Dost thou suppose that thou hast only dropped a word for him to think of, and not rather hast put a sword into his hand to slay his father ? And what dost thou mean, when thou really hatest both him and his brother, to pretend kiudness to them, only in order to raise a reproach against me, and talk of such things as no one but such an impious wretch as thou art could either devise in their mind, or declare in their words ? Begone, thou that art such a plague to thy benefactor and thy brother; and may that evil conscience of thine go along with thee ; while I still overcome my relations by kindness, and am so far from avenging myself of them, as they deserve, that I bestow greater benefits upon them than they are worthy of." Thus did the king speak. Whereupon Pheroras, who was caught in the very act of his villany, said that "it was Salome who was the framer of this plot, and that the words came from her;" but as soon as she heard that, for she was at hand, she cried out, like one that would be believed, that no such thing ever came out of her mouth; that they all earnestly endeavoured to make the' king hate her, and to make her away, because of the good-will she bore to Herod, and because she always foresaw the dangers that were coming upon him, and that at present there were more plots against him than usual : for while she was the only person who persuaded her brother to put away the wife he now had, and to take the king's daughter, it was no wonder if she was hated by him. As she said this, and often tore her hair, and often beat her breast, her countenance made her detail to be believed, but the perverseuess of her manners declared at the same time her dissimulation in these proceedings; but Pheroras was caught between them, and had nothing plausible to offer in his own defence, while he confessed that he had said what was charged upon him, but was not believed when he said he had heard it from Salome ; so the confusion among Chap. VIIT.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 23 them was increased, and their quarrelsome words one to another. At last the king, out of his hatred to his brother and sister, sent them both away; and when he had commended the moderation of his son, and that he had himself told him of the report, he went in the evening to refresh himself. After such a contest as this had fallen out among them, Salome's reputa- tion suffered greatly, since she was sup- posed to have first raised the calumny; and the king's wives were grieved at her, as knowing she was a very ill-natured woman, and would sometimes be a friend, and sometimes an enemy, at different sea- sons; so they perpetually said one thing or another against her; and somewhat that now fell out, made them the bolder in speaking against her. There was one Obodas, king of Arabia, an inactive and slothful man in his nature ; but Sylleus managed most of his affairs for him. He was a shrewd man, although ce was but young, and was handsome withal. This Sylleus, upon some occasion coming to Herod, and supping with him, saw Salome, and set his heart upon her : and understanding that she was a widow, he discoursed with her. Now, because Salome was at this time less in favour with her brother, she looked upon Sylleus with some passion, and was very earnest to be married to him ; and on the days following there appeared many, and those very great, indications of their agreement together. Now the women carried this news to the king, and laughed at the in- decency of it; whereupon Herod inquired about it further of Pheroras, and desired him to observe them at supper, how their behaviour was one toward another; who told him, that by the signals that came from their heads and their eyes, they both were evidently in love. After this, Syl- leus the Arabian, being suspected, went away, but came again in two or three months afterward, as it were on that very design, and spoke to Herod about it, and desired that Salome might be given him to w7ife ; for that his affinity might not be disadvantageous to his affairs, by a union with Arabia, the government of which country was already in effect under his power and more evidently would be his hereafter, Accordingly, when Herod discoursed with his sister about it, and asked her whether she was disposed to this match, she immediately agreed to it; but wheu Sylleus was desired to come over to the Jewish religion, and then he should marry her, and that it was iiii;>'>s- sible to do it on any other terms, he could not bear that proposal, and went his way ; fur he said, that if he should do so, he should be stoned by the Arabs. Then did Pheroras reproach Salome for her in- continency, as did the women much more; and said that Sylleus had debauched her. As for that damsel which the king had betrothed to his brother Pheroras, but he had not taken her, as I have before related, because he was enamoured of his former wife, Salome desired of Herod she might be given to her son by Costobarus : which match be was very willing to, but was dissuaded from it by Pheroras, who plead- ed, that this young man would not be kind to her, since her father had been slain by him, and that it was more just that his son, who was to be his successor in the tetrarchy, should have her; so he begged his pardon, and persuaded him to do so. Accordingly the damsel, upon this change of her espousals, was disposed of to this young man, the son of Pheroras, the king giving for her portion 100 talents. CHAPTER VIII. Continued dissensions in Herod's family. But still the affairs of Herod's family were no better, but perpetually more trou- blesome. Now this accident happened, which arose from no decent occasion, hut proceeded so far as to bring great difficult ties upon him. There were certain eu- nuchs which the king had, and on account of their beauty was very fond of them ; and the care of bringing him drink was intrusted to one of them ; of bringing him his supper-, to another; and of put- ting him to bed, to a third, who also managed the principal affairs of the go- vernment; and there was one told the kiuo- that these eunuchs were corrupted by Alexander, the king's son, by great sums of money; and when they were asked whether Alexander had had criminal con- versation with them, they confessed it, but said they knew of no further mischief of his against his father; but when they were more severely tortured, and were in the utmost extremity, and the tormentors, out of compliance with Antipater, stretch- ed the rack to the very utmost, they said that Alexander bore great ill-will and in- nate hatred to his father; and that he 24 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Bock. XVI told them that Herod despaired to live much Linger; and that, in order to cover his great age, he coloured Lis hair black, and endeavoured to conceal what would disi vt'i' how old he was; but that if he would apply himself to him, when he should attain the kingdom, which, in spite of his father could come to no one else, he should quickly have the first place in that kingdom under him, for that he was now ready to take the kingdom, not only as his birthright, but by the preparations he had made for obtaining it, because a great many of the rulers, and a great many of his friends, were of his side, and those no ill men cither, ready both to do and to suffer whatsoever should come on that ac- count. When Herod heard this confession, he was all over anger and fear, some parts seeming to him reproachful, and some made him suspicious of dangers that at- tended him, insomuch, that on both ac- counts he was provoked, and bitterly afraid, lest some more heavy plot was laid against him than he should be then able to escape from; whereupon he did not now make an open search, but sent about spies to watch such as he suspected, for he was now overrun with suspicion and hatred against all about him; and in- dulging abundance of those suspicions, in order to his preservation, he continued- to suspect those that were guiltless : nor did he set any bounds to himself; but sup- posing that those who stayed with him had the most power to hurt him, they were to him very frightful ; and for those that did not use to come to him, it seemed enough to name them [to make them sus- pected], and he thought himself safer when they were destroyed: and at last his domestics were come to that pass, that being noway secure of escaping them- selves, they fell to accusing one another, and imagining that he who first accused another, was most likely to save himself; yet when any had overthrown others, they were hated; and they were thought to suffer justly, who unjustly accused Others; and they only thereby prevented their own accusation ; nay, they now ex- ecuted their own private enmities by this means, and when they were caught, they were punished in the same way. Thus these men contrived to make use of this opportunity as an instrument and a snare against their enemies; yet when they tried it, were themselves caught also in the same snare which they laid for others : aud the king soon repented of what he had done, because he had no clear evidence of the guilt of those whom he had slain ; and yet what was still more severe in him, he did not make use of his repentance, in order to leave off doing the like again, but in order to inflict the same punishment upon their accusers. And in this state of disorder were the affairs of the palace ; and he had already told many of his friends directly, that they ought not to appear before him, noi come into the palace ; and the reason of this injunction was, that [when they were there] he had less freedom of acting, or a greater restraint on himself on their ac- count; for at this time it was, that he expelled Andromachus and Gemellus, men who had of old been his friends, and been very useful to him in the affairs of bis kingdom, and been of advantage to his family, by their embassies and counsels; and had been tutors to his sons, and had in a manner the first degree of freedom with him. He expelled Andromachus, because his son Demetrius was a companion to Alexander ; and. Gemellus, because he knew that he wished him well, which arose from his having been with him in his youth, when he was at school, and absent at Rome. These he expelled out of his palace, and was willing enough to have done worse by them ; but that he might not seem to take such liberty against men of so great reputation, he contented himself with depriving them of their dig- nity, and of their power to hinder his wicked proceedings. Now, it was Autipater who was the cause of all this; who, when he knew what a mad and licentious way of acting his father was in, and had been a great while one of his counsellors, he hurried him on, and then thought he should bring him to do somewhat to the purpose, when every one that could oppose him was taken away. When, therefore, Andromachus and his friends were driven away, and had no discourse nor freedom with the king any longer, the king, in the first place, examined by torture all whom he thought to be faithful to Alexander, whether they knew any of his attempts against him ; but these died without having any thing to say to that matter, which made the king more zealous [after discoveries], when he could not find out what evil proceedings he suspected them of. As for Autipater, Chap. VIII.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 25 he was very sagacious to raise a calumny against those that were really innocent, as if their denial was only their constancy and fidelity [to Alexander], and thereupon provoked Herod to discover by the torture of great numbers, what attempts were still concealed. Now, there was a certain per- son among the many that were tortured, who said that he knew that the young man had often said, that when he was commended as a tall man in his body, and a skilful marksman, aud that in his other commendable exercises he exceeded all men, these qualifications, given him by nature, though good in themselves, were not advantageous to him, because his father was grieved at them, and envied him for them ; and that when he walked along with his father, he endeavoured to depress and shorten himself, that he might not appear too tall; and that when he shot at any thing as he was hunt- ing, when his father was by, he miss- ed his mark on purpose ; for he knew how ambitious bis father was of being su- perior in such exercises. So when the man was tormented about this saying, and had ease given his body after it, he added, that he had his brother Aristobulua for his assistance, and contrived to lie in wait for their father, as they were hunting, and kill him; aud when they had done so, to fly to Home, and desire to have the king- dom given them. There were also letters of the young man found, written to his brother; wherein he complained that his father did not act justly in giving Anti- pater a country, whose [yearly] revenues amounted to 1000 talents. Upon these confessions Herod presently thought he had somewhat to depend on, in his own opinion, as to his suspicion about his sons : so he took up Alexander, aud bound him; yet did he still continue to be uneasy, and was not quite satisfied of the truth of what he had heard; and when he came to recollect himself, he found that they had only made juvenile complaints and con- tentions, and that it was an incredible thing, that when his son should have slain him, he should openly go to Home [to beg the kingdom]; so he was desirous to have some surer mark of his son's wickedness, and was very solicitous about it, that he might not appear to have condemned him to be put in prison too rashly; so he tortured the principal of Alexander's friends, and put not a few of them to death, without getting any of the things out of them which In !. And while Herod was very busy about this matter, and the palace was full of terror and trouble, one of the younger sort, when he was in the utmost agony, confessed that Alexander had sent to his friends at Rome, and desired that he might be quickly invited thither by Caesar, aud that he could discover a plot against him; that Mithridates, the king of Parthia, was joined in friendship with his father against the Romans; and that he had a poisonous potion ready prepared at Askelon. To these accusations Herod gave credit, and enjoyed hereby, in his miserable case, some sort of consolation, in excuse of his rashness, as flattering himself with finding things in so bad a condition ; but as for the poisonous potion, which he laboured to find, he could find none. As fir Alex- ander, he was very desirous to aggravate the vast misfortunes he was under, so he preteuded not to deny the accusations, but punished the rashness of his father with a greater crime of his own; aud perhaps he was willing to make his father ashamed of his easy belief of such calumnies: he aimed especially, if he could gain belief to his stoiy, to plague him and his whole kingdom ; for he wrote four letters aud sent them to him, that "he did not need to torture any more persons, for he had plotted against him; and that he bad for his partners, Pheroras and the most faith- ful of his friends; and that Salome came in to him by night, and that she lay with him whether he would or not; and that all men were come to be of one mind to make away with him as soon as they could, and so get clear of the continual fear they were in from him Among these were accused Ptolemy and Sapinnius, who were the most faithful friends to the king. And what more can be said, but that those who before were the most intimate friends, were become wild beasts to one another, as if a certain madness had fallen upon them, while there was no room for defence or refutation, in order to the discovery of the truth, but all were at random doomed to destruction! so that some lamented those that were in prison, some those that were put to death, and others lamented that they were in expectation of the same miseries; and a melancholy solitude ren- dered the kingdom deformed, and quite the reverse to that happy state it was formerly in. Herod's own life also was entirely disturbed; and, because he could 26 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVI. trust nobody, he was sorely punished by the expectation of further misery; for he often fancied in his imagination, that his son had fallen upon him, or stood by him with a sword in his hand; and thus was his mind night and day intent upon this thing, and revolved it over and over, and no otherwise than if he were under a dis- traction. And this was the sad condition Herod was now in. But when Archelaus, king of Cappado- cia, heard of the state that Herod was in, and being in great distress about his daughter, and the young man [her hus- band], and grieving with Herod, as with a man that was his friend, on account of so great a disturbance as he was under, he came [to Jerusalem] on purpose to compose their differences ; and, when he found Herod in such a temper, he thought it wholly unseasonable to reprove him, or to pretend that he had done any thing rashly, for that he should thereby natu- rally bring him to dispute the point with him, and by still more and more apolo- gizing for himself to be the more irritated : he went, therefore, another way to work, in order to correct the former misfortunes, and appeared angry at the young man, and said that Herod had been so very mild a man that he had not acted a rash part at all. He also said he would dis- solve his daughter's marriage with Alex- ander, nor could in justice spare his own daughter, if she were conscious of any thing, and did not inform Herod of it. Winn Archelaus appeared to be of this temper, and otherwise than Herod ex- pected or imagined, and for the main took Herod's part, and was angry on his ac- count, the king abated of his harshness, and took occasion from his appearing to have acted justly hitherto, to come by degrees to put on the affection of a father, and was on both sides to be pitied; for when some persons refuted the calumnies that were laid on the young man, he was thrown into a passion; but when Arche- laus joined in the accusation, he was dis- solved into tears and sorrow after an affectionate manner. Accordingly, he de- sired that he would not dissolve his son's marriage, and became not so angry as before for his offences. So when Arche- laus had brought him to a more moderate temper, he transferred the calumnies upon his friends; and said it must be owing to them that so young a man, and one un- acquainted with malice, was corrupted; and he supposed that there was more rea- son to suspect the brother than the son. Upon which, Herod was very much dis- pleased at Pheroras, who, indeed, had now no one that could make a reconciliation between him and his brother. So, when he saw that Archelaus had the greatest power with Herod, he betook himself to him in the habit of a mourner, and like one that had all the signs upon him of an undone man. Upon this, Archelaus did not overlook the intercession he made to him, nor yet did he undertake to change the king's disposition toward him imme- diately ; and he said that it was better for him to come himself to the king, and con- fess himself the occasion of all; that this would make the king's anger not so ex- travagant toward him, and that then he would be present to assist him. When he had persuaded him to this, he gained his point with both of them ; and the calumnies raised against the young man were, beyond all expectation, wiped off. And Archelaus, as soon as he had made the reconciliation, went then away to Cap- padocia, having proved at this juncture of time the most acceptable person to Herod in the world; on which account he gave him the richest presents, as tokens of his respect to him, and being on other occa- sions magnanimous, he esteemed him one of his dearest friends. He also made an agrt.v ment with him that he would go to Rome, Veause he had written to Caesar about theso affairs; so they went together as far as Antioch, and there Herod ma le a reconciliation between Archelaus and Titus, the president of Syria, who had been greatly at variance, and so returned back to Judea. CHAPTER IX. The Trachonites revolt — Sylleus accuses Herod be- fore Caesar. When Herod had been at Rome, and was come back again, a war arose between him and the Arabians, on the occasion fol- lowing:— The inhabitants of Trachonitis, after Caesar had taken the country away from Zenodorus, and added it to Herod, had not now power to rob, but were forced to plough the laud, and to live tjuietly, which was a thing they did not like; and when they did take that pains, the ground did not produce much fruit for them. However, at the first the king would not permit them to rob; and so they abstained Chap. IX.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 27 from that unjust way of living upon their neighbours, which procured Herod a grout reputation for his care. But when he was sailing to Rome, it was at that time when he went to accuse his son Alexander, and to commit Antipater to Cesar's protec- tion, the Trachonites spread a report as if he were dead, and revolted from his dominion, and betook themselves again to their accustomed way of robbing their neighbours; at which time the king's commanders subdued them during his absence : but about forty of the principal robbers, being terrified by those that had been taken, left the country, and retired into Arabia, Sylleus entertaining them, after he had missed of marrying Salome, and gave them a place of strength, in which they dwelt. So they overran not only Judea, but all Celesyria also, and carried off the prey, while Sylleus afforded them places of protection and quietness during their wicked practices. But when Herod came back from Rome, he per- ceived that his dominions had greatly suf- fered by them, and since he could not reach the robbers themselves, because of the secure retreat they had in that coun- try, and which the Arabian government afforded them, and yet, being very uneasy at the injuries they had done him, he went all over Trachonitis, and slew their relation?; whereupon these robbers were more angry than before, it being a law among them to be avenged on the mur- derers of their relations by all possible means ; so they continued to tear and rend every thing under Herod's dominion with impunity ; then did he discourse about these robberies to Saturninus and Volumnius, and required that they should be punished; upon which occasion they still the more confirmed themselves in their robberies, and became more nume- rous, and made very great disturbances, laying waste the countries and villages that belonged to Herod's kingdom, and killing those men whom they caught, till these unjust proceedings came to be like a real war, for the robbers were now become above 1000; at which Herod was sore dis- pleased, and required the robbers, as well as the money which he had lent Obodas, by Sylleus, which was sixty talents, and since the time of payment was now past, he desired to have it paid him: but Syl- leus, who had laid Obodas aside, and managed all by himself, denied that the robbers were in Arabia, and put off the payment of the money ; about which there was a. hearing before Saturninus and Volumnius, who were then the presi- dents of Syria.* At last, he, by their means, agreed, that within thirty days' time Herod should be paid his money, anil that each of them should deliver up the other's subjects reciprocally. Now, as to Herod, there was not one of the other's subjects found in his kingdom, either as doiug any injustice, or on any other ac- count ; but it was proved that the Ara- bians had the robbers among them. When the day appointed for payment of the money was past, without Sylleus's performing any part of his agreement, and he was gone to Rome, Herod demanded the payment of the money, and that the robbers that were in Arabia should be delivered up ; and, by the permission of Saturninus and Volumnius, executed the judgment himself upon those that were refractory. He took an army that he had, and led it into Arabia, and in three days' time marched seven mansions; and when he came to the garrison wherein the rob- bers were, he made an assault upon them, and took them all, and demolished the place, which was called Raepta, but did no harm to any others. But as the Ara- bians came to their assistance, under Xa- ceb their captain, there ensued a battle, wherein a few of Herod's soldiers, and Naceb, the captain of the Arabians, and about twenty of his soldiers fell, while the rest betook themselves to flight. So when he had brought them. to punishment, he placed 3000 Idumeans in Trachonitis, and thereby restrained the robbers that were there. He also sent an account to the captains that were about Phoenicia, and demonstrated that he had done nothing but what he ought to do, in punishing the refractory Arabians, which, upon an exact inquiry, they found to be no more than what was true. However, messengers were hasted away to Sylleus, to Rome, and informed him what had been done, and, as is usual, ag- gravated every thing. Now Sylleus had already insinuated himself iuto the know- ledge of Cassar, anil was then about the palace; and as soon as he heard of these things, he changed his habit to black, and went in, and told Csesar that Arabia was * These joint presidents <>f Syria, Saturninus and Volumnius, were nut, perhaps, <>!' equal au- thority, but the latter like a procurator an former. 28 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVI afflicted with war, and that all his king- dom was in great confusion, upon Herod's laying it waste with his army ; and he said, with tears in his eyes, that 2500 of the principal men among the Arabians had been destroyed, and that their cap- tain, Nacebus, his familiar friend and kinsman, was slain ; and that the riches that were at Raepta were carried off; and that Obodas was despised, whose infirm state of body rendered him unfit for war; on which account neither he nor the Arabian army were present. When Sylleus said so, and added invidiously, that he would not himself have come out of the country, unless he believed that Caesar would have provided that they should all have peace one with another, and that, had he been there, he would have taken care that the war should not have been to Herod's advantage. Caesar was provoked when this was said, and asked no more than this one question, both of Herod's friends that were there, and of his own friends who were come from Syria, whether Herod had led an army thither? And when they were forced to confess so much, Caesar, without staying to hear for what reason he did it, and how it was done, grew very angry, and wrote to Herod sharply. The sum of his epistle was this, that whereas of old he had used him as his friend, he should now use him as his subject. Sylleus also wrote an account of this to the Arabians ; who were so elevated with it, that they neither deliver- ed up the robbers that had fled to them, nor paid the money that was due ; they re- tained those pastures also which they had hired, and kept them without paying their rent, and all this because the king of the Jews was now in a low condition, by reason of Caesar's anger at him. Those of Trachonitis, also, made use of this op- portunity, and rose up against the Tdumean garrison, and followed the same way of rob- bing with the Arabians, who had pillaged their country, and were more rigid in their unjust proceedings, not only in order to get by it, but by way of rcveuge also. Now Herod was forced to bear all this, that confidence of his being quite gone with which Caesar's favour used to inspire him ; for Caesar would not admit so much as an embassy from him, to make an apology for him; and when they came again, he sent them away without success : so he was cast into sadness and fear; and Sylleus's circumstances grieved him ex- ceedingly, who was now believed by Caesar, and was present at Home, nay, sometimes aspiring higher. Now it came to pass that Obodas was dead : and iEneas, whose name was afterward changed to Aretas,* took the government, for Sylleus endeavoured by calumnies to get him turned out of his principality, that he might himself take it; with which de- sign he gave much money to the cour- tiers, and promised much money to Caesar, who, indeed, was angry that Aretas had not sent to him first before he took the kingdom, yet did ^Encas send an epistle and presents to Caesar, and a crown of gold, of the weight of many talents. Now that epistle accused Sylleus as having been a wicked servant, and having killed Obo- das by poison ; and that while he was alive, he had governed him as he pleased; and had also debauched the wives of the Arabians ; and had borrowed money, in order to obtain the dominion for himself: yet did not Caesar give heed to these accu- sations, but sent his ambassadors back, without receiving any of his presents. But in the mean time, the affairs of Judea and Arabia became worse and worse, partly because of the anarchy they were under, and partly because, bad as they were, nobody had power to govern them ; for of the two kings, the one was not yet con- firmed in his kingdom, and so had not authority sufficient to restrain the evil- doers ; aud as for Herod, Caesar was immediately angry at him for having avenged himself, and so he was compelled to bear all the injuries that were offered him. At length, when he saw no end of the mischief that surrounded him, he re- solved to send ambassadors to Rome again, to see whether his friends had prevailed to mitigate Caesar, aud to address themselves to Caesar himself; and the ambassador he sent thither was Nicolaus of Damascus. CHAPTER X. Eurycles falsely accuses Herod's sons. The disorders about Herod's family and children about this time grew much worse; for it now appeared certain, nor was it un- foreseen beforehand, that fortune threaten- ed the greatest and most insupportable * This name of Aretas had now become so es- tablished for the kings of Arabia [at Petra and Damascus], that when the crown came to this tineas, he changed his name to Aretas. Chap. X.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 29 calamities possible to his kingdom. Its progress and augmentation at this time arose on the occasion following: — One Eurycles, a Lacedemonian, (a person of note there, but a man of perverse mind, and so cunning in his ways of voluptuous- ness and flattery, as to indulge both, and yet seein to indulge neither of them,) came in his travels to Herod, and made him presents, but so that he received more presents from him. He also took such proper seasons for insinuating himself into his friendship, that he became one of the most intimate of the king's friends. He had his lodging in Antipater's house; but he had not only access, but free con- versation with Alexander, as pretending to him that he was in great favour with Archelaus, the king of Cappadocia ; whence he pretended much respect, to Glaphyra, and, in an occult manner, culti- vated a friendship with them all, but al- ways attending to what was said and done, that he might be furnished with calumnies to please them all. In short, he behaved himself so to everybody in his conversation, as to appear to be his particular friend, and he made others believe that his being any- where was for that person's advantage. So he won upon Alexander, who was but young; and persuaded him that he might open his grievances to him, with assurance, and with nobody else. So he declared his grief to him, how his father was alien- ated from him. He related to him also the affairs of his mother, and of Antipater; that he had driven them from their proper dignity, and had the power over every thing himself; that no part of this was tolera- ble, since his father had already come to hate them ; and he added, that he would neither admit them to his table nor to his conversation. Such were the com- plaints, as was but natural, of Alexander about the things that troubled him : and these discourses Eurycles carried to Anti- pater, and told him he did not inform him of this on his own account, but that being overcome by his kindness, the great importance of the thing obliging him to do it : and he warned him to have a care of Alexander, for that what he said was spoken with vehemency, and that, in con- sequence of what he said, he would cer- tainly kill him with his own hand. A\ hereupon, Antipater, thinking him to be his friend by this advice, gave him presents upon all occasions, and at length persuaded him to inform Herud of what he had heard. So when he related to the king Alexander's ill temper, as discovered by the words he had heard him speak, he was easily believed by him ; and In; thereby brought the king to that pass, turning him about by his words, and irri- tating him, till ho increased his hatred to him, and made him implacable, which ho showed at that very time, for he imme- diately gave Eurycles a present of fifty talents; who, when he had gotten them, went to Archelaus, kiug of Cappadocia, and commended Alexander before him, and told him that he had been many ways of advantage to him, in making a recon- ciliation between him and his father. So he got money from him also, and went away, before his pernicious practices were found out; but when Eurycles had re- turned to Lacedemon, he did not leave off doing mischief; and so, for his many acts of injustice, he was banished from his own country. Cut as for the king of the Jews, he was not now in the temper he was in formerly toward Alexander and Aristo- bulus, when he had been content with the hearing their calumnies when others told him of them, but he was now come to that pass as to hate them himself, and to urge men to speak against them, though they did not do it of themselves. He also observed all that was said, and put questions, and gave ear to every one that would but speak, if they could but say any thing against them, till at length he heard that Euaratus of Cos was a con- spirator with Alexander ; which thing to Herod was the most agreeable and sweet- est news imaginable. But still a greater misfortune came upon the young men ; while the calumnies against them were continually increased, and, as a man may say, one would think it was every one's endeavour to lay some grievous thing to their charge, which might appear to be for the king's preserva- tion. There were two guards of Herod's body, who were in great esteem for their great strength and tallncss, Jucundus and Tyranuus ; these men had been cast off by Herod, who was displeased at them ; these now used to ride along with Alex- ander, and for their skill in their exercises were in great esteem with him, and had some gold and other gifts bestowed upon them. Now the king, having an imme- diate suspicion of these men, had them tortured ; who endured the torture cou- 30 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVI rageously for a long time ; but at last confessed that Alexander would have per- suaded them to kill Herod when he was in pursuit of the wild beasts, that it might lie said he foil from his horse, and was run through with his own spear, for that he had onee such a misfortune for- merly. They also showed where there was money hidden in the stable, under ground ; and these convicted the king's chief hunter, that he had given the young men the royal hunting-spears and weapons to Alexander's dependants, and at Alex- ander's command. After these, the commander of the garrison of Alexandrium was caught and tortured ; for he was accused to have pro- mised to receive the young men into his fortress, and to supply them with that money of the king's which was laid up in that fortress, yet did not he acknowledge any thing of it himself, but his son came in, and said it was so, and delivered up the writing, which, so far as could be guessed, was in Alexander's hand. Its contents were these: — "When we have finished, by God's help, all that we have proposed to do, we will come to you ; but do your endeavours, as you have promised, to receive us into your fortress." After this writing was produced, Herod had no doubt about the treacherous designs of his sons against him ; but Alexander said that Diophantus, the scribe, had imitated his hand, and that the paper was maliciously drawn up by Antipater; for Diophantus appeared to be very cunning in such prac- tices; and as he was afterward convicted of forging other papers, he was put to death for it. So the king produced those that had been tortured before the multitude at Jericho, in order to have them accuse the young men, which accusers many of the people stoned to death ; and when they were going to kill Alexander and Aristobulus likewise, the king would not permit them to do so, but restrained the multitude by means of Pto- lemy and Pheroras. However, the young men were put under a guard, and kept in custody, that nobody might come at them ; and all that they did or said was watched, and the reproach and fear they were in was little or nothing different from those of condemned criminals ; and one of them, who was Aristobulus, was so deeply affected, that he brought Salome, who was his aunt, and his mother-in-law, to lament with him for his calamities, and to hate him w7ho had suffered things to come tc that pass; when he said to her, ''Art thou not in danger of destruction also, while the report goes that thou hadst disclosed beforehand all our affairs to Sylleus, when thou wast in hopes of being married to him V Bat she immediately carried those words to her brother : upon this he was out of patience, and gave command to bind him ; and enjoined them both, now they were kept separate one from the other, to write down all the ill things they had done against their father, and bring their writings to him. So when this was enjoined them, they wrote this : that they had laid no treacherous designs, nor made any preparations agsinst their father, but that they had intended to fly away : and that by the distress the}7 were in, their lives being now uncertain and tedious to them. About this time, there came an ambas- sador out of Cappadocia from Archelaus, whose name was Melas: he was one of the principal rulers under him. So Herod being desirous to show Archelaus's ill- will to him, called for Alexander, as he was in his bonds, and asked him again concerning his flight, whether and how they had resolved to retire. Alexander replied, to Archelaus, who had promised to send them away to Pome; but that they had no wicked or mischievous designs against their father, and that nothing of that nature which their adversaries bad charged upon them was true; and that their desire was, that he might have ex- amined Tyrannus and Jucundus more strictly, but that they had been suddenly slain by the means of Antipater, who put his own friends among the. multitude [for that purpose]. When this was said, Herod commanded that both Alexander and Melas should be carried to Glaphyra, Archelaus's daughter, and that she should be asked, whether she did not know somewhat of Alexander's treacherous designs against Herod ? Now as soon as they were come to her, and she saw Alexander in bonds, she beat her head, and in great consternation, gave a deep and moving groan. The young man, also, fell into tears. This was so mi- serable a spectacle to those present, that, for a great while, they were not able to say or to do any thing; but at length Ptolemy, who was ordered to bring Alex- ander, bade him say whether his wife was conscious of his actions. He replied, Coap. X.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 31 "How is it possible that she, whom I love better than my own soul, and by whom I have had children, should not know what I do ?" Upon which she cried out, that she knew of no wicked designs of his; but that yet, if her accusing her- self falsely would tend to his preserva- tion, she would confess it all. Alexan- der replied, "There is no such wick- edness as those (who ought the least of all so to do) suspect, which either I have imagined, or thou knowest of, but this only, that we had resolved to retire to Archelaus, and thence to Home." Which she also confessed. Upon which Herod, supposing that Archelaus's ill-will to him was fully proved, sent a letter by Olympus and Volumnius; and bade them, as they sailed by, to touch at Eleusa of Cilicia, and give Archelaus the letter. And that when they had expostulated with him, that he had a hand in his sons' treacherous design against him, they should from thence sail to Home ; and that, in case they found Nicolaus had gained auy ground, and that Csesar was no longer displeased at him, he should give him his letters, and the proof which he had ready to show against the young men. As to Archelaus, he made this defence for himself, that he had promised to receive the young men because it was both for their own and their father's advantage so to do, lest some too severe procedure should be gone upon in that anger and disorder they were in, on occasion of the present suspicions; but that still he had not promised to send them to Caesar, and that he had not pro- mised any thing else to the young men that could show auy ill-will to him. When these ambassadors had come to Rome, they had a fit opportunity of de- livering their letters to Caesar, because they found him reconciled to Herod; for the circumstances of Nicolaus' s embassy had been as follows : — As soon as he had come to Rome, and was about the court, he did not first of all set about what he was come for only, but he thought fit also to accuse Sylleus. Now, the Arabians, even before he came to talk with them, were quarrelling one with another ; and some of them left Sylleus's party, and joiuing themselves to Nicolaus, informed him of all the wicked things that had been done; and produced to him evident de- monstrations of the slaughter of a great number of Obodas's friends by Sylleus; for when these men left Sylleus, they had carried off with them those letters whereby they could convict him. When Nicolaus saw such an opportunity afforded him, he made use of it, in order to gain his own point afterward, and endeavoured imme- diately to make a reconciliation between Caesar and Herod; for he was fully sa- tisfied that if he should desire to make a defence for Herod directly, he should not be allowed that liberty; but that if lie ! desired to accuse Sylleus, there would an occasion present itself of speaking on He- rod's behalf. So when the cause was ready for a hearing, and the day was appointed, Nicolaus, while Aretas's am- bassadors were present, accused Sylleus, and said that he imputed to him the de- struction of the king [ObodasJ, and of many others of the Arabians : that he had borrowed money for no good design; and he proved that he had been guilty of adultery, not only with the Arabian, but Roman women also. And he added, that above all the rest, he had alienated Caesar from Herod ; and that all that he had said about the actions of Herod were falsities. When Nicolaus had come to this topic, Caesar stopped him from going on, and desired him only to speak to this affair of Herod, and to show that he had not led an army into Arabia, nor slain 2500 men there, nor taken prisoners, nor pillaged the country. To which Nicolaus made this answer: — "I shall principally de- monstrate, that either nothing at all, or but a very little, of those imputations are true, of which thou hast been informed} for had they been true, thou mightest justly be still more angry at llerod." At this strange assertion, Caesar was very at- tentive; and Nicolaus said, that there was a debt due to Herod of 500 talents, and a bond, wherein was written, that if tlie time appointed be elapsed, it should be lawful to make a seizure out of any part of his country. "As for the pretended army," he said, "it was no army, but a party sent out to require the just payment of the money : that this was not sent im- mediately, nor so soon as the bond allow- ed, but that Sylleus had frequently come before Saturuinus, and Votumnius, the presidents of Syria : and that at la.-t he had sworn at Rerytus, by thy fortune,* that he would certainly pay the money * This oath, "by tho fortune of Cajsar," was put to Polyearp, a bishop of Smyrna, by the Roman governor, to try whether he was a Christian, as they were then esteemed who refused to swear that oatli. ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVL within thirty days, and deliver up the fu- gitives that were under his dominion. And that when Sylleus had performed nothing of this, Herod came again before the presidents; and upon their permission to make a seizure for his money, he, with difficulty, went out of his country with a party of soldiers for that purpose. And this is all the war which these men so tragically describe; and this is the affair of the expedition into Arabia. And how can this be called a war, when thy presi- dents permitted it, the covenants allowed it, and it was not executed till thy name, 0 Cfesar, as well as that of the other gods, had been profaned ? And now I must speak in order about the captives. There were robbers that dwelt in Tracho- nitis : at first their number was no more than forty, but they became more after- ward, and they escaped the punishment Herod would have inflicted on them, by making Arabia their refuge. Sylleus re- ceived them, and supported them with food, that they might be mischievous to all mankind; and gave them a country to inhabit, and himself received the gains they made by robbery; yet did he promise that he would deliver up these men, and that by the same oaths and same time that he swore and fixed for payment of his debt : nor can he by any means show that any other persons have at this time been taken out of Arabia besides these, and, indeed, not all these either, but only so many as could not conceal themselves. And thus does the calumny of the captives, which hath been so odiously represented, appear to be no better than a fiction and a lie, made on purpose to provoke thy in- dignation; for I venture to affirm, that when the forces of the Arabians came upon us, and one or two of Herod's party fell, he then only defended himself, and there fell Nacebas their general, and in all about twenty-five others, and no more; when Sylleus, by multiplying every single sol- dier to a hundred, he reckons the slain to have been two thousand five hundred. This provoked Caesar more than ever: so he turned to Sylleus full of rage, and asked him how many of the Arabians were slain Hereupon he hesitated, and said he had been imposed upon. The cove- nants were also read about the money he had borrowed, and the letters of the presi- dents of Syria, and the complaints of the several cities, so many as had been injured by the robbers. The conclusion was this, that Sylleus was condemned to die, and that Caesar was reconciled to Herod, and owned his repentance for what severe things he had written to him, occasioned by calumny, insomuch that he told Syl- leus, that lie had compelled him, by his lying account of things, to be guilty of ingratitude against a man that was his friend. At the last, all came to this, Sylleus was sent away to answer Herod's suit, and to repay the debt that he owed, and after that to be punished [with death] ; but still Cresar was offended with Aretas, that he had taken upon himself the govern- ment, without his consent first obtained, for he had determined to bestow Arabia upon Herod ; but that the letters he had sent hindered him from so doing ; for Olympus and Volumnius, perceiving that Cassar had now become favourable to He- rod, thought fit immediately to deliver him the letters they were commanded by He- rod to give him concerning his sons. When Cassar had read them, he thought it would not be proper to add another government to him, now he was old, and in an ill state with relation to his sons, so he admitted Aretas's ambassadors; and after he had just reproved him for his rashness, in not tarrying till he received the kingdom from him, he accepted of his presents, and confirmed him in his go- vernment. CHAPTER XI. Herod, by permission from Ctesar, accuses bis sons before an assembly of judges at Berytus — Death of the young men, and their burial at Alexan- drium. So Caasar was now reconciled to Herod, and wrote thus to him : that he was griev- ed for him on account of his sons; and that in case they had been guilty of any profane and insolent crimes agaiust him, it would behoove him to punish them as parricides, for which he gave him power accordingly ; but if they had only con- trived to fly away, he would have him give them an admonition, and not proceed to extremity with them. He also advised him to get au assembly together, and to appoint some place near Berytus, which is a city belonging to the Romans, aud to take the presidents of Syria, and Arche- laus, king of Cappadocia, and as many more as he thoug'nt to be illustrious for their friendship to him, and the dignities they were in, and determine what should be done by their approbation. These were Chap. XL] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 83 the directions that Caesar gave him. Ac- | [to do what he thought fit]. He also L cordingly Herod, when the letter was brought to him, was immediately very glad of Caesar's reconciliation to him, and very glad also that he had a complete authority given him over his sons. And it strangely came about, that whereas be- fore, in his adversity, though he had, indeed, shown himself severe, yet had he not been very rash, nor hasty, in procur- ing the destruction of his sons; he now, in his prosperity, took advantage of this change for the better, and the freedom he now had, to exercise his hatred against them, after an unheard-of manner; he therefore sent and called as many as he thought fit to this assembly, excepting Arehelaus ; for as for him, he either hated him, so that he would not invite him, or thought he would be an obstacle to his de.-igns. When the presidents, and the rest that belonged to the cities, had come to Be- rytus, he kept his sons in a certain village belonging to Sidon, called Piatana, but near to this city, that if they were called he might produce them, for he did not think fit to bring them before the assem- bly : and when there were 150 assessors present, Herod came by himself alone, and accused his sons, and in such a way as if it were not a melancholy accusation, aud not made but out of necessity, and upon the misfortunes he was under; in- deed, in such a way as was very indecent for a father to accuse his sons, for he was very vehement and disordered when he came to the demonstration of the crime they were accused of, and gave the great- est signs of passion and barbarity: nor would he suffer the assessors to consider of the weight of the evidence, but asserted them to be true by his own authority, after a manucr most indecent in a father against his sons, and read himself what they themselves had written, wherein there was no confession of any plots or contri- vances against him, but only how they had contrived to fly away, and containing withal certain reproaches against him, on account of the ill-will he bore them; aud when he came to those reproaches, he cried out most of all, and exaggerated what they said, as if they had confessed the design against him, and took his oath that he would rather lose his life thau hear such reproachful words. At last he said that he had sufficient authority, both by nature and by Caesar's grant to him, Vol. II.— 3 Ided an allegation of a law of their coun- try, which enjoined this: — that if parents laid their hands on the head of him that was accused, the standers-by were obliged to cast stones at him, and thereby to slay him ; which though he were ready to do in his own country and kingdom, yet did he wait for their determination ; and yet they came thither not so much as judges, to condemn them for such manifest designs against him, whereby he had almost pe- rished by his sons' means, but as persons that had an opportunity of showing their detestation of such practices, and declaring how unworthy a thing it must be in any, even the most remote, to pass over such treacherous designs [without punishment]. When the kiug had said this, and the young men had not been produced to make any defence for themselves, the as- sessors perceived there was no room for equity and reconciliation, so they eon- firmed his authority. And in the first place, Saturninus, a person that had been consul, and one of great dignity, pro- nounced his sentence, but with great moderation and trouble ; aud said that he condemned Herod's sons; but did not think they should be put to death. He had sons of his own; and to put one's son to death is a greater misfortune than any other that could befall him by their means. Alter him Saturninus'fl sons, for he had three sons that followed him, and were his legates, pronounced the same sentence with their father. Ou the contrary, Volumnius's sentence was to inflict death on such as had been so i m piously. undu- tiful to their father; and the greatest part of the rest said the same, insomuch that the conclusion seemed to be, that the young men were condemned to die. Im- mediately after this, Herod came away from thence, aud took his sons to Tyre, where Nicolaus met him in his voyage from Home; of whom he inquired, after he had related to him what had passed at Berytus, what his sentiments were about his sons, and what his friends at Rome thought of that matter. His answer was — "That what they had determined to do to thee was impious, and that thou oughtest to keep them in prison : aud if thou thinkestany thing further necessary, thou mayest, indeed, so punish them, that thou mayest not appear to indulge thy anger more than to govern thyself by judgment; but if thou inclinest to the 34 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book X\ [ milder side, thou rnayest absolve them, lest, perhaps, thy misfortunes be rendered incurable : and this is the opinion of the greatest part of thy friends at Home also." Whereupon Herod was silent, and in great thoughtt'ulness, and bade Nicolaus sail along with him. Now as they came to Csesarea, every- body was there talking of Herod's sons ; and the kingdom was in suspense, and the people in great expectation of what would become of them, for a terrible fear seized upon all men, lest the ancient disorders of the family should come to a sad con- clusion, and they were in great trouble about their sufferings; nor was it. without danger to say any rash thing about this matter, nor even to hear another saying it, but men's pity was forced to be shut up in themselves, which rendered the excess of their sorrow very irksome, but very silent; yet was there an old soldier of Herod's, whose name was Tero, who had a son of the same age as Alexander, and his friend, who was so very free as openly to speak out what others silently thought about that matter; and was forced to cry out often among the multitude, and said, in the most unguarded manner, that truth was perished, and justice taken away from men, while lies and ill-will prevailed, and brought such a mist before public affairs, that the offenders were not able to see the greatest mischiefs that can befall men. And as he was so bold, he seemed not to have kept himself out of danger, by speaking so freely ; but the reasonable- ness of what he said moved men to regard him as having behaved himself with great manhood, and this at a proper time also, for which reason every one heard what he said with pleasure: and although they first took care of their own safety by keep- ing silent themselves, yet did they kindly receive the great freedom he took; for the expectation they were in of so great an affliction, put a force upon them to speak of Tero whatsoever they pleased. This man had thrust himself into the king's presence with the greatest freedom, and desired to speak with him by himself alone, which the king permitted him to do; where he said this: — "Since I am not able, 0 king, to bear up under so great a concern as I am under, I have preferred the use of this bold liberty that I now take, which may be for thy ad- vantage, if thou mind to get any protit by it, before my own safety. Whither is thy understandinggone and left thy soul emptv ? Whither is that extraordinary sagacity of thine gone, whereby thou hast performed so many and such glorious actions ? Whence comes this solitude, and de- sertion of thy friends and relations ? Of which I cannot but determine that they are neither thy friends nor relations, while they overlook such horrid wicked- ness in thy once happy kingdom. Dost thou not perceive what is doing ? Wilt thou slay these two young men, born of thy queen, who are accomplished with every virtue in the highest degree, and leave thyself destitute in thy old age, but exposed to one son, who hath very ill managed the hopes thou hast given him, and to relations, whose death thou hast so often resolved on thyself ? Dost thou not take notice, that the very silence of the multitude at once sees the crime, and abhors the fact? The whole army and the officers have commiseration on the poor unhappy youths, and hatred to those who are the actors in this matter." These words the king heard, and, for some time, with good temper. But what can one say ? When Tero plainly touched upon the bad behaviour and perhdiousness of his domestics, he was moved at it ; but Tero went on further, and, by degrees, used an unbounded military freedom of speech, nor was he so well disciplined as to accommodate himself to the time: so Herod was greatly disturbed, and seemed to be rather reproached by this speech, than to be hearing what was for his ad- vantage, while he learned thereby that both the soldiers abhorred the thing he was about, and the officers had indig- nation at it, he gave order that all whom Tero had named, and Tero himself, should be bound, and kept in prison. When this was over, one Trypho, who was the king's barber, took the oppor- tunity, and came and told the king that Tero would often have persuaded him, when he trimmed him with a razor, to cut his throat, for that by this means he should be among the chief of Alexander's friends, and receive great rewards from him. When he had said this, the king gave order that Tero, and his son, and the barber should be tortured, which was done accordingly; but while Tero bore up himself, his son, seeing his father already in a sad case, and with no hope of deliver- ance, and perceiving what would be the consequence of his terrible sufferings, :J Book XVI. Chap. XI.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 35 said, that if the king would free him and his father from these torments for what he should say, he would tell the truth. And when the king had given his word to do so, he said that there was an agree- ment made, that Tero should lay violent hands on the king, because it was easy for him to come when he was alone; and that if, when he had done the thing, he should suffer death for it, as was not un- likely, it would be an act of generosity done in favour of Alexander. This was what Tero's son said, aud thereby freed his father from the distress he was in; but uncertain it is whether he had been thus forced to speak what was true, or whether it were a contrivance of his in order to procure his own and his father's deliverance from their miseries. As for Herod, if he before had any doubt about the slaughter of his sons, there was now no longer any room left in his soul for it ; but he had banished away whatsoever might afford him the least sug- gestion of reasoning better about this matter, so he already made haste to bring his purpose to a conclusion. He also brought out 300 of the officers that were under an accusation, as also Tero and his son, and the barber that accused them, before an assembly, and brought an ac- cusation against them all ; whom the multitude stoned with whatsoever came to hand, and thereby slew them. Alex- ander, also, and Aristobulus were brought to Sebaste, by their father's command, and there strangled ; but their dead bodies were, in the night-time, carried to Alexandrium, where their uncle by their mother's side, aud the greatest part of their ancestors, had been deposited. *And now, perhaps, it may not seem unreasonable to some, that such an inve- terate hatred might increase so much [on both sides], as to proceed further, and overcome nature; but it may justly de- serve consideration, whether it be to be laid to the charge of the young men, that they gave such an occasion to their father's anger, and led him to do what he did, and by going on long in the same way, put things past remedy, aud brought him to use them so unmercifully ; or whether it be to be laid to the father's charge, that * This portion ia entirely wanting in the old Latin version, nor is there any other reason for it, than the great difficulty of an exact translation. Whiston, however, preserves it entire in his trans- lation. 2 L he was so hard-hearted, and so very tender in the desire of government, and of other things that would tend to his glory, that he would take no one into a partnership with him, that so, whatsoever he would have done himself might continue im- movable; or, indeed, whether fortune has not greater power than all prudent reasonings : whence we are persuaded that human actions are thereby determined beforehand by an inevitable necessity, and we call her Fate, because there is nothing which is not done by her; wherefore, I suppose, it will be sufficient to compare this notion with that other, which at- tributes somewhat to ourselves, and ren- ders men not unaccountable for the dif- ferent conducts of their lives ; which notion is no other than the philosophical determination of our ancient law. x\.c- cordingly, of the two other causes of this sad event, anybody may lay the blame on the young men, who acted by youthful vanity, and pride of their royal birth, that they should bear to hear the ca- lumnies that were raised against their father, while certainly they were not equitable judges of the actions of his life, but ill-natured in suspecting, and intem- perate in speaking of it, and, on both accounts, easily caught by those that observed them, and revealed them to gain favour ; yet cannot their father be thought worthy of excuse, as to that horrid im- piety which he was guilty of about them, while he ventured, without any certain evidence of their treacherous designs against him, and without any proofs that they had preparations for such an attempt, to kill his owu sons, who were of very comely bodies, and the great darlings of other men, and noway deficient in their conduct, whether it were in hunting, or in warlike exercises, or in speaking upon occasional topics of discourse; for in all these they were very skilful, and espe- cially Alexander, who was the eldest; for certainly it had been sufficient, even though he had condemned them, to have kept them alive in bonds, or to let them live at a distance from his dominions in banishment, while he was surrounded by the lioman forces, which were a strong security to him, whose help would prevent his suffering any thing by a sudden onset, or by open force ; but for him to kill them on the sudden, in order to gratify a passion that governed him, was a demonstration of insufferable impiety. He also was 3G ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVII. Chap. 1 guilty of as great a crime in his older age : nor will the delays that he made, and the length of time in which the thing was done, plead at all for his excuse; for when a man is on a sudden amazed, and in commotion of mind, and then commits a wicked action, although this be a heavy crime, jet it is a thing that frequently happens; but to do it upon deliberation, and after frecpuent attempts, and as fre- quent puttings-off, to undertake it at last, and accomplish it, was the action of a murderous mind, and such as was not easily moved from that which was evil : and this temper he showed in what he did afterward, when he did not spare those that seemed to be the best beloved of his friends that were left, wherein, though the justice of the punishment caused those that perished to be the less pitied, yet was the barbarity of the man here equal, in that he did not abstain from their slaughter also. But of those persons we shall have occasion to discourse more hereafter. BOOK XVII. CONTAINING AN INTERVAL OF FOURTEEN YEARS, FROM ALEXANDER AND ARISTOBULUS'S DEATHS TO THE BANISHMENT OF ARCHELAUS. CHAPTER I. Antipater, hated by the Jewish nation, endeavours to gain the good-will of the Romans and Syrians by presents. 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 al- though 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 had become very great; and, besides this very disagreeable circumstance, the affairs 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 the 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 which he ought himself to have been put to death, as appearing to have betrayed his brethren out of his concern for the pre- servation of Herod, and not rather out of his ill-will to them, and, before them, to his father himself; and this was the ac- cursed state he was in. Now, all Antipa- ter'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; in- somuch, 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 then 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 then of necessity become his enemy. And on this very account it was, that he became very bountiful to his father's friends, and bestowed great sums on se- veral of them, in order to surprise men with his good deeds, and take off their hatred against them. And he sent great presents to his friends, at Rome particu- larly, to gain their good-will; and, above all, to Saturninus, the president of Syria. He also hoped to gain the favour of Satur- ninus'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 Chap. I.} ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. :)1 1 friends. And, when lie counterfeited friendship to those with whom he eon- versed, he was very subtle in gaining their belief, and very cunning to hide his hatred against any that he really did hate. Blit- 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 ia preventing his pernicious de- signs. Although Antipatcr's uncle, by the mother's side, was married to her daughter, and this by his own connivance and management, Avhilc 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, iu her discover- ing 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 to 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 ac- cept of Alexas for her husband ; so she submitted to Julia, as being CVesar's wife ; and besides that, she advised her to nothing but what was very much for her own ad- vantage. At this time, also, it was, that Herod sent back King Archelaus's daugh- ter, 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. Now Herod brought up his sons' chil- dren with great care; for Alexander had two sons by Glaphyra; and Aristobulus had three sons by Bcrnice, Salome's daugh- ter, 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 Antipa- ter's daughter to Aristobulus's eldest sou. He also allotted one of Aristobulus's daugh- ters to Antipatcr's son, and Aristobulus's other daughter to Ik-rod, 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 time. Now, the king made these es] >u- sals for the children, out of commiserati >n of them now they were fatherless, as en- deavouring to render Antipater kind to them by these intermarriages. But Anti- pater did not fail to bear the same temper of mind to his brother's children which he had borne to his brothers themselves; aud his father's concern about them pro- voked his indignation against them upon his supposition that they would become greater than ever his brothers had been ; while Archelaus, a king, would support his daughter's sons, and Pheroras, a te- trarch, would accept of one of the daugh- ters 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 toward his brethren. He • - trived, 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 Aris- tobulus's daughter, and Antipatcr's son should marry Pheroras's daughter. So the espousals for the marriages wore changed after this manner, even without the king's real approbation. Now Herod, the king, had at this time nine wives; one of them Antipater'a 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, audwdiose daugh- ter 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 sous Herod and Philip; which last, was also brought up at Rome : Pallas also, was one of his wives, who bore him his son Phasaelus; and besides these, he 33 ANTIQUITIES JIF THE JEWS. [BookXVII Lad for his wives, Phedra and Elpis, by ■whom he had his daughters lloxana and Salome. As for his eldest 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 II. Zamaris, a Babylonish Jew, assumes the govern- ment of Batanea — his death — Antipater plots against Herod. And now it was that Herod, being de- sirous to secure 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 sal- lies 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 500 horsemen, all of whom could shoot their arrows as they rode on horseback, and with 100 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 pro- mised 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 cus- toms as used to be paid, and gave it him tax free. The Babylonian was induced by these offers to come thither ; so he took posses- sion 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 Tracho- nite 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 rea- son of their universal freedom from taxes. * A small district. This continued during the life of Herod ; but when Philip, who was [tetrarch] aftei 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 had now taken the governments into their own hands, they still gave them the privilege of their free- dom, but oppress them entirely with the imposition of taxes. Of which matter I shall treat more accurately in the progress of this history.* At length Zamaris the Babylonian, to whom Herod had given the country for a possession, died; having lived virtuously, and left children of a good character be- hind him; one of whom was Jacim, who was famous for his valour, and taught his Babylonians how to ride their horses; and a troop of them were guards to the fore- mentioned 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 valour 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 exer- cised and led wheresoever he had occasion to march. 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 culti- vated a friendship with him was Pheroras, who received the like marks of his friend- ship ; while Antipater had cunningly en- compassed 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 * This is now wanting. Chap. III.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 3G sister; and this, notwithstanding the ha- tred he bore them for the indignities they had offered to his virgin daughters. Yet did he bear them; and nothing was to be done without the women, who had got this man into their circle, and con- tinued still to assist each other in all things, insomuch that Antipater was en- tirely addicted to them, both by himself and by his mother; for these four women* said all one and the same thing; but the opinions of Pheroras and Anripater 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 con- trived that their meetings should not be discovered ; so they pretended to hate one another, and 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 bro- ther, 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 de- stroy him, they might well enough have been open and public; but "to appear- ance they are at variance, and speak about one another as if they intended one an- other a mischief, but agree so well toge- ther when they are out of the sight of the multitude; for when they are alone by themselves they act in concert, and pro- fess 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 under- stood 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 ■ Pheroras's wife, and her mother arid sister, and Doris, Autijiakrs mother. 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 fa- voured 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 ele- vated to a pitch of open fighting and doing mischief. Accordingly, when all the peo- ple of the Jews gave assurance of their good-will to Cresar, and to the king's go- vernment, these very men did not swear, being above G000; and when the king imposed a fine upon them, Pheroras's wife paid their fine for them. In order to re- quite 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 Sa- lome, 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 ac- cused, and Bagoas the eunuch, and one Carus, who exceeded all men of that time in comeliness, and much beloved by He- rod. He slew also all those of his own family who had consented to what the Pharisees foretold; and for Bagoas, be 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 IH. Enmity between Herod and Pheroras — Herod sends Antipater to Cajsar — Death of Pheroras. When Herod had punished those Pha- risees who had been convicted of the fore- going 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 dishonour she had brought upon 40 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVII. them : that she had studiously introduced a quarrel between him and his In-other; 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 Pberoras 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 bis wife away, as one that will still be the oc- casion 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 tn renounce his brotherly relation to him, so would he not leave off bis affec- tion 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 punish men t. However, he forbade An- tipater and his mother to have any con- versation with Pheroras, and bade them to take care and avoid the assemblies of the women : which they promised to do, but still got together when occasion served; and both Pheroras and Antipater had their own merry meetings. The re- port went also, that Antipater had crimi- nal conversation with Pheroras's wife, and that they were brought together by An- tipater's mother. 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 Koine, and ba;ir had inspected it; so there was presently an acclamation made to Archelaus, asking. 52 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVII 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 assist- ant to him. After this was over, they prepared for his funeral, it being Archelaus's care that the procession to his father's sepulchre 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 sceptre in his right hand. About the bier were his sons, and his numerous relations; next to these were the soldiery, distinguished according to their several countries and denominations ; and they were put in 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 be- hind 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,* to Herodium; for there, by his own command, he was to be buried; — and thus did Herod end his life. Now Archelaus paid him so much re- spect as to continue his mourning till the seventh day; for so many days are ap- pointed for it by the law of our fathers; and when he had given a treat to the multitude, and left off his mourning, he went up into the temple; he had also ac- clamations 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 on a throne made of gold, and spake kindly to the multitude, and de- clared 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 * At eitcht 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,) must have taken up no less than twenty-five days. the injuries his father had done them, to his disadvantage ; and promised them he would endeavour 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 honour 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 ho- nour, which is so 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 endeavour, as to all things wherein they were concerned, to prove in every respect better than his father. Where- upon 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 cla- mour 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 toward his preservation of the government. Here- upon he went and offered sacrifice to God, and then betook himself to feast with his friends. CHAPTER IX. The people raise a sedition against Archelaus, who sails to Home. 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 Chap. IX.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. funeral mourning, out of the fear men were in of that man; tliey were those who had been condemned for pulling down the gulden eagle. The people made a great clamour and lamentation hereupon, and cast out some reproaches against the ting also, as if that tended to alleviate the miseries of the deceased. The people as- sembled together, and desired of Arche- laus that, in way of revenge on their account, he would inflict punishment on those who had been honoured 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, j 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 per- suasions, 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 Ca?sar, and should then be come back to them ; for that he would then consult with them in common con- cerning the purport of their petitions; but that the}7 ought at present to be quiet, lest they should seem seditious persons. So when the king had suggested these things, and instructed his general in what he was to say, he sent him away to the people; but they made a clamour, 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; thinkiug it to be a thing insufferable that, while Herod was alive, they should lose those that were the most dear to them, and that when he was dead they could not get the actors to be pu- nished. So they went on with their de- signs after a violent manner, and thought all to be lawful and right which tended to please them, and being unskilful in fore- seeing 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 consi- derations j 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 pas- sion ; and it was evident that they were proceeding further in seditious practices, by the multitude running so fast upon them. 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,* and is a memorial of their de- liverance 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 law, 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 meaus of these men's madness, he sent a regiment of armed men, and jvith them a captain of a thousand, to suppress the violent efforts of the seditious, before the whole multi- tude 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 sedi- tious on account of those teachers of the law, irritated the people by the noise and clamour 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, al- though 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 * This passover, when the sedition here men- tinned was moved against Archelaus, was not one. but thirteen months, alter the eclirse of the muun already mentioned. 51 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVII ■was no way to preserve the entire go- vernment, 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 dan- ger ; which horsemen slew 8000 men, while the rest went to the neighbouring 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 com- plaints 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 Ar- chelaus at Caesarea; but Varus (presi- dent of Syria) came at that time, and restrained him from meddling with them, for he was there as sent for by Archelaus, 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 reso- lution about them; so that, upon this his promise, he tarried still at Caesarea. But after Archelaus had sailed for Borne, and Varus had removed to Antioch, Sabinus went to Jerusalem, and seized on the king's palace. He also sent for the keep- ers 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 man- ner he pleased : but those who kept them did not neglect what Archelaus had given them in command, but continued to keep all tilings in the manner that had been enjoined them; and their pretence was, that they kept them all for Caesar. At the same time also, did Antipas, another of Herod's sons, sail to Borne, 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 more honest and more fit man than Archelaus for that authority, since Herod had, in his former testament, deemed him the worthiest to be made king ; wdiich 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 honoured friend, and was now zealous for Antipas ; but it was Ireneus the orator, and one who, on account of his reputation for sagacity, was iutrusted with the affairs of the kingdom, who most of all encouraged him to at- tempt to gain the kingdom; by whose means it was that, when some advised him to yield to Archelaus, as to his elder bro- ther, and who had been declared king by their father's last will, he would not sub- mit so to do. And when he had come to Borne, all his relations revolted to him ; not out of their good-will to him, but out of their hatred to Archelaus ; though, in- deed, they were most of all desirous of gain- ing their liberty, and to be put under a Bo- man 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 let- ters, accused Archelaus to' Caesar. Now when Archelaus had sent in his papers to Caesar, wherein he pleaded his right to the kingdom and his father's tes- tament, 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 daugh- ter, 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 bitter enemy to Archelaus, Chap IX.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 55 spake first to this purpose : that, it was ridiculous in Arehelaus to plead now to have the kingdom given him, since he had, in reality, taken already the power over it to himself, hefore Caesar had grant- ed 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 punish- ing of them should be reserved to those that were out of the country, but had the power to punish them, and not been exe- cuted by a man that, if he pretended to be a king, he did an injury to Cassar, by usurping that authority before it was de- termined 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 Cassar. He also as- cribed to him the releasing of the prison- ers 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 Arehe- laus could thus recpuite his dead father, who had bestowed such great benefits upon him, and bequeathed such great things to him, by pretending to weep for him in the daytime, like an actor on the stage, but every night making mirth for having gotten the government, he would appear to be the same Arehelaus with re- gard to Cajsar, if he granted him the kingdom, which he had 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 iu the government. And what he most aggra- vated 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 pre- tended 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 Arehelaus 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 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 had now shown, 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 tem- ple, while he was but a private person. 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 Arehelaus, 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 Arehelaus; 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 50 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS [Book XY11 them. Now, it is evident that what these did in way of opposition was done under pretence, indeed against Archelaus, but in reality against Caesar himself, for they, after au injurious wanner, 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 un- righteous 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 oider to do harm to Archelaus. Such is these wen's- inclination to do an injury to a man that is of their kindred, their father's benefactor, and familiarly ac- quainted 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 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 endeavour to injure his determination, while they have not themselves had the same regard to their kinsman [which Archelaus had]. Caesar will not there- fore 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 dis- position, which is known and uncontested through all the habitable world, imitate the wickedness of these men iu condemn- ing 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 deter- mination for refuge. Nor cau Herod at auy time have been nristaken in his judg- ment about a successor, while he showed so much prudence as to submit all to Caesar's determination. Now when Nicolaus had laid these things before Ciosar, 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 favour, that be would not act otherwise than his father's testa- ment directed, and that was for the ad- vantage 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 con- sidered by himself whether he should con- firm the kingdom to Archelaus, or whether he should part it among all Herod's pos- terity; and this because they all stood in need of much assistance to support them. CHAPTER X. Sedition of tho Jews against Sabinus. But before these things could be brought to a settlement, Malthace, Arche- laus'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 Archelaus 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 Antioch, 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 sedi- tion, for, after Varus was gone away, Sabinus, Caesar's procurator, stayed 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 dis- turbance, that at length they rebelled; for he used force in seizing the citadels, and zealously pressed on the search after the king's money, iu order to seize upon it by force, on accouut of his love of gain and his extraordinary covetousness. But on the approach of Pentecost, Chap. X.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 57 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 fes- tival, 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 in- habited those parts. This wliole multi- tude 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 them- selves into three bands, and encamped themselves into 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 llomans, and to enclose them on all sides. Now Sabinus was afraid of the number of men, 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 dan- ger, 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 Rhasaelus, which had been built in honour of Phasuelus, Herod's brother, and called so when the Parthians had brought him to his death. So Sabi- nus 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 them- selves first to die on account of his avarice. However, the llomans ventured to make a sally out of the place, and a terrible battle ensued; wherein, though it is true the llomans beat their adversaries, yet were not the Jews daunted in their reso- lutions, 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 encom- passed the outer court of the temple, where a great fight was still continued, and thoycast stones at the llomans, partly with their hands, and partly with 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 upward, these arrows could not reach them, insomuch that the Jews were easily too hard fir 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 who were gotten upon them did not perceive it. This fire, bciug fed by a great deal of com- bustible 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 unex- pectedly 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 own 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 the}' were destitute of armour, 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 de- posited ; a great part of which was stolen by the soldiers; aud Sabinus got opeuly 400 talents. 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. Accord- ingly, that body of them which continued 58 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS [Book XVII. 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 de- serted to them, while Rufus and Gratus, who had 3000 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 Rufus, which itself went over to the Romans also. However, the Jews went on with the siege, and dug mines under the palace walls, and be- sought 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. Now, at this time there were ten thou- sand 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, 2000 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 moun- tainous parts by the military skill of those men, he kept himself in the fast- nesses that were there, and saved what he could. There was also Judas, the son of that Ezekias who had been head of the robbers; which Ezekias was a very strong man, and had with great difficulty been caught by Herod. This Judas, having gotten to- gether 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 car- ried away what money was left there; and he became terrible to all men, by tearing and rending those that came ne;ir 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 in- juries. There was also Simon, who had been a slave to Herod the king, but in other re- spects 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 others 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 skil- ful manner, were destroyed; and although Simon had saved himself by flying away through a certain valley, yet Gratus over- took 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 Simou. 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 avari- cious management of their affairs. Rut because Athronges, a person neither eminent by the dignity of 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 l>y any- body; yet, because he was a tall man, and excelled others in the strength of his Chap. XI.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 59 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 them- selves, 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 nu- merous. 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 his Romans and of the king's forces, and managed matters with the like hatred to each of them. The king's forces they fell upon, because of the licentious con- duct they had been allowed under Herod's government; and they fell upon the Ro- mans, because of the injuries they had so lately received from them. But in pro- cess 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 command- ed the company, and shot forty of the best of his foot-soldiers; but the rest of them were affrighted at their slaughter, and left their dead behind them, but saved them- selves 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 afterward 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 others' n.isfortune, and saw so plainly that he had no way now left to save himself, his army being worn away with sickness and continual hibours, that he also delivered himself up to Arche- laus, upon his promise and oath to God to [preserve his life.] But these things came to pass a good while afterward. And now Judea was full of robberies ; and, as the several companies of the sedi- tious 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 iudeed, and in small matters, hurtful to the Romans, but the murders they committed upon their own people lasted a long while. As soon as Varus was once informed of the state of Judea, by Sabinus's writ- ing 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 1500 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 fa- vour of the Romans, sent him no small assistance, besides their footmen and horsemen : and, when he had now col- lected 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 neighbour- hood of Ptolemais ; who made an attack upon the enemy, and put them to flight, and took Sepphoris and made its inhabit- ants slaves, and burnt the city. But Varus himself pursued his march to Sa- maria with his whole army: yet did not he meddle with the city of that name, be- cause it had not at all joined with the sedi- tious, 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 Ara- bians plundered and burnt, although it was a fortified and strong place ; and all 60 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVII along this march nothing escaped them, but all places were full of fire and slaugh- ter. Emmnus 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 bit- terly for what had been done, they cleared themselves of the accusation ; and alleged that the conflux of the people was occa- sioned 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 be- sieged 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 be- sieged : but Sabinus did not come into Varus's presence, but stole out of the city privately, and went to the seaside. 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 pu- nished some of them that were most guilty, and some he dismissed; now the number of those that were crucified on this ac- count were 2000 : after which he disband- ed his army, which he found nowise 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 mis- chief they did. As for himself, when he was informed that 10,000 Jews had got- ten 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 kin- dred. CHAPTER XT. An Embassage of the Jews to Cresar — Csesar con- firms Herod's testament. So when Varus had settled these affairs, and had placed the former legion at Jeru- salem, 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. Now, the num- ber of the ambassadors that were sent by the authority of the nation were fifty, to which they joined above 8000 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, which he had built at a vast charge ; whither the ambassadors came, and a mul- titude 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 oppo- sition to a man of their own kindred : Philip* 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 govern- ment, (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. 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 uncon- trollable 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. * He was tetrarch afterward Chap. XL] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. Gl 1 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 suf- fered under him, not only by the anxiety they were in from his looks and disposition toward them, but from the danger then- estates were in of being taken away by him. That he did never leave off adorning these cities that lay in their neighbourhood, 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 condi- tion, he had filled the nation with the ut- most degree of poverty; and when, upon unjust pretences, 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 favour 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 then- virgins, and the reproach laid on their wives for ineontinency, 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 ac- couut 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 kiug, upon this supposition, that whosoever should be set oyer 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 Csesar, who could either give it to him or not as he pleased. That he had given a specimen of his future virtue to his sub- jects, and with what kind of moderation and good administration he would govern them, by that his first action which con- cerned them, his own citizens, and God himself also, when he made the slaughter of 3000 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 contra- dicted him in the exercise of his autho- rity? Now, the main thing they desired was this: that they might be delivered from kingly and other forms of govern- ment, and might be added to Syria, and be put under the authority of such presi- dents 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. Now when the Jews had said this, Ni- colaus vindicated the kings from those ac- cusations, 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 Archelaus to the Jews' in- juries to him, who, affecting to govern contrary to the laws, and going about to kill those that would have hindered them from acting unjustly, wheu they were by him punished for what they had done, made their complaints against him; so he accused them of their attempts for inno- vation, 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 desiriug to be superior in all things. This was the substance ot what Nicolaus said. When Caesar had heard these pleadings, he dissolved the assembly; but a few days 62 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVII afterward he appointed Archelaus, not in- deed to be the king of the whole country, but ethnarch of one-half of that which had been subject to Herod, and promised to give him the royal dignity hereafter, if he go- verned 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 Arehelausfor the whole king- dom. Now, to him it was that Perea and Galilee paid their tribute, which amounted annually to two hundred talents,* while Ba- tanea with Trachonitis, as well as Auraui- tis, with a certain part of what was called the House of Zenodorus, 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, Gadara, and Hippos, they were Grecian cities, which Caesar separated from his govern- ment, and added them to the province of Syria. Now the tribute-money that came to Archelaus every year from his own do- minions amounted to six hundred talents. And so much came to Herod's sons from their father's inheritance; but Sa- lome, besides what her brother left her by his testament, which were Jamnia, Ashdod, and Phasaelis, and 500,000 * 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 six hundred talents: we may therefore gather pretty nearly Herod's yearly income — about 1600 talents, which at the known value of 3000 shekels to a talent, and about 2s. l()d. to a shekel, amounts to £680,000 sterling per annum; which income, though great in itself, bearing no proportion to his vast expenses everywhere visible in Josephus, and to the vast sums he left behind him in his will, the rest must have risen 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 method of oppression which such savage tyrants usually exercise upon their misera- ble subjects; or rather from these several methods put together, all which yet seem very much too small for his expenses, being drawn from no larger nation than that of the Jews, which was very popu- lous, but without the advantage of trade to bring them riches : leaving room to suspect that no small part of this wealth arose from another source ; pro- bably from the vast sums he took out of David's lepulchre, but concealed from the people. [drachmae] of coined silver, Caesar made her a present of a royal habitation at As- kelon : in all, her revenues amounted to sixty talents by the year, and her dwell- ing house was within Archelaus's govern- ment. The rest also of the king's relations received what his testament allotted them. Moreover, Caosar made a present to each of Herod's two virgin daughters, besides what their father left them, of 250,000 [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 1500 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 XII. Concerning a spurious Alexander. 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 of Sidon, ingrafted him- self into the kingdom 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 endeavour to obtain the govern- ment; 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 de- ceive 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 had 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 princi- pality, and reward his benefactors; so he Chap. XIII. ] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 63 made haste to Rome, and was conducted thither by those strangers who entertained him. He was also so fortunate as, upon his landing at Picearchia, to bring the Jews that were there into the same delu- sion; and not only other people, but also all those who had been great with Herod, or had a kindness for him, joined them- selves to this man as to their king. The cause of it was this, that men were glad of his pretences, 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 ; in- somuch 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 had so un- expectedly 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 acclama- tions to him, and nothing was omitted which could be thought suitable to such as had been so unexpectedly preserved. When this thing was told Ctesar, 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 freedman of his, and one that had conversed with the young men themselves, and bade him bring Alex- ander into his presence : so he brought him, being no more accurate in judgment about him than the rest of the multitude. Yet did not he deceive Caesar; for al- though there was a resemblance between him and Alexander, yet it was not so exact as to impose on such as were pru- dent in discerning j for this spurious Alex- ander had his hands rough, by the labours he had been put to ; and instead of that softness of body which the other had, and this as derived from his delicate and ge- nerous education, this man, for the con- trary reason, had a rugged body. When, therefore, Caesar saw how the master aud the scholar agreed in this lying story, and in a bold way of talking, lie inquired about Aristobulus, and asked what became of him, who (it seems) was stolen awaji together with him, and for what reason it was that he did not come along with him, and endeavour 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 Aristo- bulus might survive, and punish those that laid such treacherous designs against them ; and when he persevered in his affirmations, and the author of the impos- ture 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 villany to be under- taken by one of thy age." Accordingly, because he had no other way to take, he told Coesar the contrivance, and after what manner, and by whom, it was laid toge- ther. So Ctesar, 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 Alex- ander. CHAPTER XIII. Archelaus, upon a second accusation, banished to Vienna. When Archelaus had entered on his ethnarchy; and had come into Judea, he accused Joazar, the son of Boethus, of as- sisting the seditious, and took away the high-priesthood from him, and put Pleazar his brother in his place. He also magnifi- cently 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 oft' that water into the plain, to water those palm-trees which he had there planted : he also Im'lt 04 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVII. Chap. XIII. a village, anrl put his own name upon it, and called it Archelais. Moreover, he transgressed the law of our fathers, and married Glaphyra, the daughter of Arche- laus, 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 sou of Sie, being put in his room while he was still living. But m 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 ty- rannical usage of them, accused him be- fore 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 bade him sail away as soon as possible, aud bring him to Rome; so the man made haste in his voyage, and when he came into Judea he found Arche- laus feasting with his friends; so he told him what Caesar had sent him about, and hastened him away. And when he had come [to Rome], to Caesar, upon hearing what certain accusers of his had to say, and what reply he could make, both ba- nished him, and appointed Vienna, a city of Gaul, to be the place of his habitation, and took his money away from him. Now, before Archelaus was gone up to Rome upon this message, he related this dream to his friends : that he saw cars of corn, in number ten, full of wheat, per- fectly 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 be of 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 Essenes, desired leave to speak his mind freely, and said, that the vision de- * Spanheim seasonably observes here, that it was forbidden the Jewa to marry their brother's wife when she bad children by her first husband: and that Zenoras (cites, or) interprets the clause before us accordingly. noted a change in the affairs of Archelaus. and that not for the better; that oxen, because that animal takes uneasy pains in his labours, denoted afflictions; and indeed denoted, further, a change of affairs, be- cause 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 Arche- laus, that was sent to Judea by Caesar to call him away, came hither also. The like accident befell Glaphvra his wife, who was the daughter of King Ar- chelaus, who, as I said before, was mar- ried, while she was a virgin, to Alexander, the son of Herod, and brother of Arche- laus ; but since it fell out so that Alex- ander was slain by his father, she was married to Juba, the king of Libya; and when he was dead, and she lived in widow- hood in Cappadociawith her father, Arche- laus divorced his former wife Mariamne, and married her, so great was his affection for her ; 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 com- plained of her, and said, " 0 G-laphyra ! thou provest that saying to be true, which assures us that women are not to be trusted. Didst thou not pledge thy faith to me? and wast thou not married to me when thou wast a virgin? and had we not chil- dren between us ? Yet hast thou forgotten the affection I bare to thee, out of 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 husbaud 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 wert." When she had re- lated this to her female companions, in a few days' time she departed this life. 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 1?ook XVIII. Chap. I.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. ~ 1 Go the advantage hence to he 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 ; hut if any one does not believe such relations, let him indeed enjoy his own opinion, but let him not hinder an- other that would thereby encourage him- self 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. BOOK XVIII. CONTAINING AN INTERVAL OF THIRTY-TWO YEARS, FROM THE BANISH- MENT OF ARCHELAUS TO THE DEPARTURE OF THE JEWS FROM BABYLON. CHAPTER I. Cyrenius sent by Cresar to tax Syria and Judea; Coponius sent as procurator of Judea — Judas of Galilee — Sects among the Jews. Now Cyrenius, a Roman senator, and one who had gone through other magis- tracies, and had passed through them till he had been consul, and one who, on other accounts, was of great dignity, came at this time into Syria, with a few others, being sent by Caesar to be a judge of that nation, and to take an account of their substance : Coponius al^o, a man of the equestrian order, was sent together with him, to have the supreme power over the Jews. Moreover, Cyrenius came himself into Judea, which was now added to the province of Syria, to take an account of their substance, and to dispose of Arche- laus's money; but the" Jews, although at the beginning they took the report of a taxation heinously, yet did they leave off any further opposition to it, by the per- suation of Joazar, who was the son of Boethus, and high priest. So they, being overpersuaded by Joazar's words, gave an account of their estates, without any dispute about it ; yet there was one Judas, a Gaulonite, of a city whose name was Gamala, who, taking with him Saddue,* a Pharisee, became zealous to draw them to a revolt, who both said that this taxa- tion was no better than an introduction * It seems not very improbable that this Saddue, the Pharisee, was the very same man of whom the rabbins speak, as the unhappy but undesigning oc- casion of the impiety or infidelity of the Sadducees ; nor perhaps had the men this name of Sadducees till tli is very time, though they were a distinct sect long before. Vol. II.— 5 to slavery, and exhorted the nation to assert their liberty ; as if they could pro- cure them happiness and security for what they possessed, and an assured enjoyment of a still greater good, which was that of the honour and glory they would thereby acquire for magnanimity. They also said that, God would not otherwise be assisting to them, than upon their joining with one another in such counsels as might be suc- cessful, and for their own advantage; and this especially, if they would set about great exploits, and not grow weary in executing the same; so men received what they said with pleasure, and this bold at- tempt proceeded to a great height. All sorts of misfortunes also sprang from these men, and the nation was infected with this doctrine to an incredible degree; one violent war came upon us after another, and we lost our friends who used to alle- viate our pains ; there were also very great robberies and murders of our principal men. This was done in pretence indeed for the public welfare, but in reality for the hopes of gain to themselves;, whence arose seditions, and from them murders of men, which sometimes fell on those of their own people, (by the madness of these men toward one another, while their desire was that none of the adverse party might be left,) and sometimes on their enemies ; a famine also coming upon us, reduced us to the last degree of despair, as did also the taking and demolishing of cities ; nay, the sedition at last increased so high, that the very temple of God was burnt down by their enemies' fire. Such were the consequences of this, that the custoni3 of our fathers were altered, and such a change 66 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII was made, as added a mighty weight to- ward briri'nnfj all to destruction, which these men occasioned by thus conspiring together; for Judas and Sadduc, who ex- cited a fourth philosophic sect among us, and had a great many followers therein, failed our civil government with tumults at present, and laid the foundation of our future miseries, by this system of philo- sophy, which we were before unacquainted withal; concerning which I shall discourse a little, and this the rather, because the infection which spread thence among the younger sort, who were zealous for it, brought the public to destruction. The Jews had for a great while three sects of philosophy peculiar to themselves ; the sect of the Essenes, and the sect of the Sadducees, and the third soit of opi- nions was that of those called Pharisees; of which sects, although I have already spoken in the second book of the Jewish War, yet will I a little touch upon them now. Now, for the Pharisees, they live mean- ly, and despise delicacies in diet ; and they follow the conduct of reason, and what that prescribes to them as good for them, they do; and they think they ought earn- estly to strive to observe reason's dictates for practice. They also pay a respect to such as are in years ; nor are they so bold as to contradict them in any thing which they have introduced ; and, when they determine that all things are done by fate, they do not take away from men the free- dom of acting as they think fit; since their notion is, that it hath pleased God to make a temperament whereby what he wills is done, but so that the will of nK'n can act virtuously or viciously. They also believe that souls have an immortal vigour in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life ; and the latter are to be de- tained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again ; on account of which doctrines, they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people ; and whatsoever they do about divine worship, prayers, and sacri- fices, they perform them according to their direction; insomuch that the cities gave great attestations to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their lives and their discourses also. But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this : — That souls die with the bodies ; nor do they regard the observation of any thing besides what the law enjoius them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent; but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by those of the greatest dignity ; but they are able to do almost nothing of themselves; for when they become magistrates, as they are un- willingly and by force sometimes obliged to be, they addict themselves to the no- tions of the Pharisees, because the multi- tude would not otherwise bear them. The doctrine of the Essenes is this : — That all things are best ascribed to God. They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for ; and when they send what they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer sacrifices, because they have more pure lustrations of their own ; on which ac- count they are excluded from the common court of the temple, but offer their sacri- fices themselves ; yet is their course of life better than that of other men; and they entirely addict ^themselves to hus- bandry. It also deserves our admiration, how much they exceed all other men that addict themselves to virtue, and this in righteousness : and indeed to such a de- gree, that as it hath never appeared among any other men, neither Greeks nor bar- barians, no, not for a little time, so hath it endured a long time among them. This is demonstrated by that institution of theirs, which will not suffer any thing to hinder them from having all things in common; so that a rich man enjoys no more of his own wealth than he who hath nothing at all. There are about 4000 men that live in this way, and neither marry wives, nor are desirous to keep servants; as thinking the latter tempts men to be unjust, and the former gives the handle to domestic quarrels; but as they live by themselves, they minister one to another. They also appoint certain stewards to re- ceive the incomes of their revenues, and of the fruits of the ground; such as are good men and priests, who are to get their corn and their food ready for them. They none of them differ from others of the Essenes in their way of living, but do the most resemble those Dacae who are called Polistae [dwellers in cities]. But of the fourth sect of Jewish philo- sophy, Judas the Galilean was the author, Chap. II.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 67 These men agree in all other things with the Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty ; and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord. • They also do not value dying any kinds of death, nor indeed do they heed the deaths of their relations and friends, nor can any such fear make them call any man lord; and since this immovable reso- lution of theirs is well known to a great many, I shall speak uo further about that matter; nor am I afraid that any thing I have said of them should be disbelieved, but rather fear that what I have said is beneath the resolution they show when they undergo pain; and it was in Gessius Florus's time that the nation began to grow mad with this distemper, who was our procurator, and who occasioned the Jews to go wild with it by the abuse of his authority, and to make them revolt from the Romans ; aud these are the sects of Jewish philosophy. CHAPTER II. Herod and Philip build several cities in honour of Csesar. When Cyrenius had now disposed of Archelaus's money, and when the taxings were come to a conclusion, which were made in the thirty-seventh year of Caesar's victory over Antony at Aetiuni, he de- prived Joazar of the high-priesthood, which dignity had been conferred on him by the multitude, and he appointed Ananus, the son of Seth, to be high priest ; while Herod and Philip had each of them re- ceived their own tetrarchy, aud settled the affairs thereof. Herod also built a wall about Sepphoris, (which is the security of all Galilee,) and made it the metropolis of the country. He also built a wall round Betharamphtha, which was itself a city also, and called it Julias, from the name of the emperor's wife. When Philip, also, bad built Paneas, a city at the foun- tains of Jordan, he named it Cesarea. He also advanced the village Bethsaida, situate at the lake of Gennesareth, unto the dig- nity of a city, both by the number of inhabitants it contained, and its other grandeur, and called it by the name of Julias, the same name with Caesar's daugh- ter. As Coponius, who we told you was sent along with Cyreuius, was exercising his office of procurator, and governing Judea, the following accidents happened : — As 2N the Jews were celebrating the feast of un- leavened bread, which we call the Pass- over, it was customary for the priests to open the temple-gates just after midnight. When, therefore, those gates were first, opened, some of the Samaritans came privately into Jerusalem, and threw about dead men's bodies in the cloisters; on which account the Jews afterward ex- cluded them out of the temple, which they had not used to do at such festivals; and on other accounts also they watched the temple more carefully than they had formerly done. A little after which ac- cident, Coponius returned to Rome, and Marcus Ambivius came to be his successor in that government ; under whom Salome, the sister of King Herod, died, and left to Julia [Caesar's wife], Jamnia, all its toparchy, and Phasaelis in the plain, and Archelaus, where is a great plantation of palm-trees, and their fruit is excellent in its kind. After him came Annius Rufus, under whom died Cojsar, the second em- peror of the Romans, the duration of whose reign was fifty-seven years, besides six months and two days, (of which time Antonius ruled together with him four teen years; but the duration of his life was seventy-seven years;) upon whose death Tiberius Nero, his wife Julia's son, succeeded. He was now the third em- peror; and he sent Valerius Gratus to be procurator of Judea, and to succeed An- nius Rufus. This man deprived Ananus of the high-priesthood, and appointed Is- mael, the son of Phabi, to be high priest. He also deprived him in a little time, and ordained Eleazar, the son of Ananus, who had been high priest before, to be high priest : which office, when he had held for a year, Gratus deprived him of it, and gave the high-priesthood to Simou, the son of Camithus ; and, when he had pos- sessed that dignity no longer than a year, Joseph Caiaphas was made his success r. When Gratus had done those things, he went back to Rome, after he had tarried in Judea eleven years, when Pontius Pi- late came as his successor. And now Herod the tetrarch, who was in great favour with Tiberius, built a city of the same name with him, and called it Tiberias. He built it in the best part of Galilee, at the lake of Gennesareth. There are warm baths at a little distance from it, in a village named Emmaus. Strangers came aud inhabited this city; a great number of the inhabitants were Galileans ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII also ; and many were necessitated by He- rod to come thither out of the country belonging to him, and were by force com- pelled to be its inhabitants; some of them were persons of condition. He also ad- mitted poor people, such as those that were collected from all parts, to dwell in it. Nay, some of them were not qui-te freemen ; and these he was a benefactor to, and made them free in great numbers; but obliged them not to forsake the city, by building them very good houses at his own expenses, and by giving them land also; for he was sensible, that to make this place a habitation was to transgress the Jewish ancient laws, because many sepulchres were to be here taken away, in order to make room for the city Tiberias ;* whereas our law pronounces, that such inhabitants are unclean for seven days.f About this time died Phraates, king of tbe Parthians, by the treachery of Phra- ataces, his son, upon the occasion follow- ing: — When Phraates had had legitimate sons of his own, he had also an Italian maidservant whose name was Thermusa, who had formerly been sent to him by Julius Caesar, among otber presents. He first made her his concubine; but he being a great admirer of her beauty, in process of time having a son by her, whose name was Phraataces, he made her his legiti- mate wife, and had a great respect for her. Now she was able to persuade him to do any thing that she said, and was earnest in procuring the government of Parthia for her son ; but still she saw that her endeavours would not succeed, unless she could contrive how to remove Phra- ates's legitimate sons [out of the king- dom] ; so she persuaded him to send those his sons as pledges of his fidelity to Home; and they were sent to Pome accordingly, because it was not easy for him to con- tradict her commands. Now, while Phra- ataces was alone brought up in order to succeed in the government, he thought it very tedious to expect that government by his father's donation [as his successor] ; he therefore formed a treacherous design against his father, by his mother's assist- ance, with whom, as the report went, he had criminal conversation also. So he was hated for both these vices, while his subjects esteemed this [wicked] love of * After the death of Herod the Great, and the succession of Arehelaus, Jbsephus is very brief in his accounts of Judca, till near his own time. f Num. six. 11-14. his mother to be noway inferior to his parricide ; and he was by them, in a sedi- tion, expelled out of the country before he grew too great, and died. But, as the best sort of Parthians agreed together that it was impossible they should be go- verned without a king, while also it was their constant practice to choose one of the family of Arsaces [nor did their law allow of any others; and they thought this kingdom had been sufficiently injured already by the marriage with an Italian concubine, and by her issue], they sent ambassadors, and called Orodes [to take the crown] ; for the multitude would not otherwise have borne them; and though he was accused of very great cruelty, and was of an untractable temper, and prone to wrath, yet still he was one of the family of Arsaces. However, they made a con- spiracy against him, and slew him, and that, as some say, at a festival, and among their sacrifices, (for it is the universal custom there to carry their swords with them ;) but as the more general report is, they slew him when they had drawn him out a-hunting. So they sent ambassadors to Rome and desired they would send one of those that were there as pledges, to be their king. Accordingly, Vonones was preferred before the rest, and sent to them, (for he seemed capable of such great for- tune, which two of the greatest kingdoms under the sun now offered him, his own and a foreign one.) However, the bar- barians soon changed their minds, they being naturally of a mutable disposition, upon the supposition that this man was not worthy to be their governor ; for they could not think of obeying the commands of one that had been a slave, (for so they called those that had been hostages,) nor could they bear the ignominy of that name; and this was the more intolerable, because then the Parthians must have such a king set over them, not by right of war, but in time of peace. So they presently invited Artabanusj king of Me- dia, to be their king, he being also of the race of Arsaces. Artabanus complied with the offer that was made him, and came to them with an army. So Vonones met him, and at first the multitude of the Parthians stood on his side, and he put his army in array; but Artabanus was beaten, and fled to the mountains of Media. Yet did he a little after gather a great army together, and fought with Vonones, and beat him ; whereupon Vonones fled Chap. III.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 6S away on horseback, with a few of his at- tendants about him, to Selucia [upon Ti- gris]. So when Artabanus had slain a great number, and this, after he had gotten the victory by reason of the very great dismay t lie barbarians were in, he retired to Ctesiphon with a great number of his people ; and so he now reigned over the Parthians. But Vonones fled away to Armenia; and as soon as he came thither, he had an inclination to have the govern- ment of the country given him, and sent ambassadors to Rome [for that purpose]. But, because Tiberius refused it him, and, because he wanted courage, and because the Parthian king threatened him, and sent ambassadors to him to denounce war against him if he proceeded, and because he had no way to take to regain any other kingdom, (for the people of authority among the Armenians about Niphates joined themselves to Artabanus,) he de- livered up himself to Silanus, the presi- dent of Syria, who, out of regard to his education at Rome, kept him in Syria, while Artabanus gave Armenia to Orodes, one of his own sons. At this time died Antiochus, the king of Comrnagene; whereupon the multitude contended with the nobility, and both sent ambassadors [to Rome] ; for the men of power were desirous that their form of government might be changed into that of a [Roman] province ; as were the mul- titude desirous to be under kings, as their fathers had been. So the senate made a decree, that Germanicus should be sent to settle the affairs of the east, fortune here- by taking a proper opportunity for de- priving him of his life; for when he had been in the east, and settled all affairs there, his life was taken away by the poison which Piso gave him, as hath been related elsewhere.* CHAPTER III. Sedition of the Jews against Pontius Pilate. But now Pilate, the procurator of Ju- dea, removed the army from Cesarca to Jerusalem, to take their winter quarters there, in order to abolish the Jewish laws. So he introduced Cffisair's effigies, which were upon the ensigus, and brought them into the city; whereas our law forbids us the very making of images; on which * This citation is now wanting. account the former procurators were wont to make their entry into the city with such ensigns as had not those ornaments. Pilate was the "first who brought those images to Jerusalem, and set them up there; which was done without the know- ledge of the people, because it was done in the night-time; but as soon as they knew it, they came in multitudes to Ce- sarca, and interceded with Pilate many days, that he would remove the images ; and when he would not grant their re- quests, because it would tend to the injury of Caesar, while yet they persevered in their request, on the sixth day ho ordered his soldiers to have their weapons privately, while he came and sat upon his judgment-seat, which seat was so prepared in the open place of the city, that it concealed the army that lay ready to oppress them ; and when the Jews petitioned him again, he gave a signal to the soldiers to encompass them round, and threatened that their punishment should be no less than immediate death, unless they would leave off disturbing him, and go their waj's home. But they threw themselves upon the ground, and laid their necks bare, and said they would take their death very willingly, rather than the wisdom of their laws should be transgressed ; upon which Pilate was deep- ly affected with their firm resolution to keep their laws inviolable, and presently commanded the images to be carried back from Jerusalem to Cesarea. But Pilate undertook to bring a cur- rent of water to Jerusalem, and did it with the sacred money, and. derived the origin of the stream from the distance of 200 furlongs. However, the Jews* were * These Jews, as they are here called, whose blood Pilate shed on this occasion, may very well be those very Galilean Jews, "whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices/' (Luke xiii. 1,2:) these tumults being usually excited at some of the Jews' great festivals, when they slew abuu'daiiee of sacrifices, and th«' Galileans being commonly much more busy in such tumults than those of Judea and Jerusalem, as we learn from the history of Arche- laus, (Antiq. b. xvii. chap. ix. and chap, x ; | though, indeed, Josephus's present copies say not on of "those eighteen upon whom the tower in SUoam fell, and slew them,'' which the -ttli verse of the same loth chapter of St. Luke informs us of: but since the gospel teaches as (Luke xxiii. 6, 7) that "when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether Jesus was a Galilean? And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to liennl :" and (ver. \2) "the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together; P they had been at enmity between themselves ;'' take ihe'very probable key of this matter in the words of the learned Noldius, do Herod. .No. 2-19. "The •o ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII not pleased with what had been done about this water; and many ten thou- sands of the people got together, and made a clamour against him, and insisted that he should leave off that design. Some of them, also, used reproaches, and abused the man, as crowds of such people usually do. So he habited a great num- ber of his soldiers in their habit, who carried daggers under their garments, and sent them to a place where they might surround them. So he bade the Jews himself go away; but they boldly casting reproaches upon him, he gave the soldiers that signal which had been beforehand agreed on ; who laid upon them much greater blows than Pilate had commanded them, and equally punished those that were tumultuous and those that were not, nor did they spare them in the least; and since the people were unarmed, and were caught by men prepared for what they were about, there were a great number of them slain by this means, and others of them ran away wounded.; and thus an end was put to this sedition. Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, — a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross,* those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day,f as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him ; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day. About the same time, also, another sad calamity put the Jews into disorder; and certain shameful practices happened about the temple of Isis that was at Rome. I will now first take notice of the wicked at- tempt about the temple of Isis, and will then give an account of the Jewish affairs. There was at Rome a woman whose name was Paulina — one who, on account of the cause of the enmity .between Herod and Pilate (says he) seems to have been this, that Pilate had intermeddled with the tetrarch's jurisdiction, and had slain some of his Galilean subjects, (Luke xiii. 1 ;) and, as he was willing to correct that error, he sent Christ to Herod at this time." * A. D. 33, April 3. ■j- April 3. dignity of her ancestors, and by the regu- lar conduct of a virtuous lire, had a great reputation : she was also very rich ; and, although she was of a beautiful counte- nance, and in that flower of her age wherein women are the most gay, yet did she lead a life of great modesty. She was married to Saturninus, one that was every way answerable to her in an excel- lent character. P/ecius Mundus fell in love with this woman, who was a man very high in the equestrian order; and as she was of too great dignity to be caught by presents, aud had aheady rejected them, though they had beeu sent in great abundance, he was still more inflamed with love to her, insomuch that he promised to give her 200,000 Attic drachmae for one night's lodging; and when this would not prevail upon her, and he was not able to bear this misfortune in his amours, he thought it the best way to famish himself to death for want of food, on account of Paulina's sad refusal ; and he determined with himself to die after such a manner, and he went on with his purpose accord- ingly. Now, Mundus had a freed-woman, who had been made free by his father, whose name was Ide, one skilful in all sorts of mischief. This woman was very much grieved at the young man's resolu- tion to kill himself, (for he did not conceal his intentions to destroy himself from others,) and came to him, and encouraged him by her discourse, and made him to hope, by some promises she gave him, that he might obtain a night's lodging with Paulina; and when he joyfully hearkened to her entreaty, she said she wanted no more than 50,000 drachmae for the entrapping of the woman. So when she had encouraged the young man, and gotten as much money as she re- quired, she did not take the same methods as had been taken before, because she perceived that the woman was by no means to be tempted by money; but as she knew that she was very much given to the worship of the goddess Isis, she devised the following stratagem: she went to some of Isis's priests, and, upon the strongest assurances of [concealment], she persuaded them by words, but chiefly by the offer of money, of 25,000 drachmae in hand, and as much more when the thing had taken effect; and told them the pas- sion of the young man, and persuaded them to use all means possible to beguile the woman. So they were drawn in to Chap. III.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 71 promise so to do, by that large sum of gold they were to have. Accordingly, tin' uldest of them went immediately to Paulina; and, upon his admittance, he desired to speak with her by herself. When that was granted him, he told her that he was sent by the god Anubis, who had fallen in love with her, and enjoined her to come to him. Upon this, she took the message very kindly, and valued her- self greatly upon this condescension of Anubis ; and told her husband that she had a message sent her, and was to sup and lie with Anubis ; so he agreed to her acceptance of the offer, as fully satisfied with the chastity of his wife. Accord- ingly, she went to the temple ; and after she had supped there, and it was the hour to go to sleep, the priest shut the doors of the temple; when, in the holy part of it, the lights were also put out. Then did Mundus leap out (for he was hidden therein) and did not fail of enjoying her, who was at his service all the night long, as supposing he was the god; and when he had gone away, which was before those priests who knew nothing of this strata- gem were stirring, Paulina came early to her husband, and told him how the god Anubis had appeared to her. Among her friends, aLo, she declared how great a value she put upon this favour, who partly disbelieved the thing, when they reflected on its nature, and partly were amazed at it, as having no preteuce for not believing it, when they considered the modesty and the dignity of the per- son ; but now, on the third day after what had been done, Mundus met Pau- lina, and said, "Nay, Paulina, thou hast saved me 200,000 drachma?, which sum thmi mightest have added to thy own family: yet hast thou not failed to be at my service in the manner I invited thee. As for the reproaches thou hast laid upon Mundus, I value not the business of names; but I rejoice in the pleasure I reaped by what I did, while I took to myself the name of Anubis." When he had said this, he went his way : but now she began to come to the sense of the gross- uess of what she had done, and rent her garments, aud told her husband of the horrid nature of this wicked contrivance, and prayed him not to neglect to assist her in this case. So he discovered the fact to the emperor; whereupon Tiberius inquired into the matter thoroughly, by examining the priests about it, and order- ed them to be crucified, as well as Ide, who was the occasion of their perdition, and who had contrived the whole matter, which was so injurious to the woman. He also demolished the temple of Isis, and gave order that her statue should be thrown into the river Tiber; while ho only banished Mundus, but did no more to him, because he supposed that what crime he had committed was done out of the passion of love ; and these were the circumstances which concerned the temple of Isis, and the injuries occasioned by her priests. I now return to the relation of what happened about this time to the Jews at llome, as I formerly told you I would. There was a man who was a Jew, but had been driven away from his owu coun- try by an accusation laid against him for transgressing their laws, and by the fear he was under of punishment for the same ; but in all respects a wicked man : — he then living at Home, professed to instruct men in the wisdom of the laws of Moses. He procured also three other men, entirely of the same character with himself, to be his partners. These men persuaded Fulvia, a woman of great dignity, and one that had embraced the Jewish religion, to send purple and gold to the temple at Jerusalem; and, when they had gotten them, they employed them for their own uses, and spent the money themselves; on which account it was that they at first required it of her. Whereupon Ti- berius, who had been informed of the thing by Saturninus, the husband of Fulvia, who desired inquiry might, be made about it, ordered all the Jews to be banished out of Rome; at which time the consuls listed 4000 men out of them, and sent them to the island Sardiuia; but punished a greater number of them, who were unwilling to become soldiers on ac- count of keeping the laws of their fore- fathers.* Thus were the Jews banished • Of the banishment of these 4000 Jews into Sardinia by Tiberius, see Suetonius in Tiber, sect. 36. But as for Mr. Keland's note here, which sup- poses that Jews could not, consistently with their laws, be soldiers, it is contradicted by one branch of the history before us, and contrary to innumera- ble instances of their lighting, and proving excel- lent soldiers in war ; and, indeed, many of the best of them, and even under heathen kings themselves, did so ; those who allowed them their rest on the Sabbath-da}r and other solemn festivals, and let them live according to their own laws, as Alexan- der the Great and the Ptolemies of Egypt did. It is true, they could not always obtain these privi- ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII out of the city by the ■wickedness of four men. CHAPTER IV. The Samaritans make a tumult — Pilate destroys many of them — ?\late is accused. But the nation of the Samaritans did not escape without tumults. The man who excited them to it was one who thought lying a thing of little consequence, and who contrived every thing so, that the multitude might be pleased; so he bade them get together upon Mount Gerizzim, which is by them looked upon as the most holy of all mountains, and assured them that when they had come thither, he would show them those sacred vessels •which were laid under that place, because Moses put them there. So they came thither armed, and thought the discourse of the man probable ; and as they abode at a certain village, which 'was called Tirathaba, they got the rest together to them, and desired to go up the mountain in a great multitude together. But Pilate prevented their going up, by seizing upon the roads with a great band of horsemen and footmen, who -fell upon those that had gotten together in the village ; and when they came to. an action, some of them they slew, and others of. them they put to flight, and took a great many alive, the principal of whom, and also the most potent of those that fled away, Pilate or- dered to be slaiu. But when this tumult was appeased, the Samaritan senate sent an embassy to Vi- tellius, a man that had been consul, and who was now president of Syria, and ac- cused Pilate of the murder of those that were killed ; for that they did not go to Tirathaba in order to revolt from the Romans, but to escape the violence of Pilate. So Vitellius sent Marcellus, a friend of his, to take care of the affairs of Judea, and ordered Pilate to go to Rome, to answer before the emperor to the accu- sation of the Jews. So Pilate, when he had tarried ten years in Judea, made haste to Rome, and this, in obedience to the orders of Vitellius, which he durst not contradict j but, before he could get to Rome, Tiberius was dead. leges, and then they got excused as well as they could, or sometimes absolutely refused to fight, which seems to have been the case here, as to the major part of the Jews cow banished, but nothing more. See several of the Romas decrees in their favour as to *uch metiers, b. aiv. chap. x. But Vitellius came into Judea, and went up to Jerusalem; it was at the time of that festival which is. called the Pass- over. Vitellius was there magnificently received, and released the inhabitants of Jerusalem from all the taxes upon the fruits that were bought and sold, and gave them leave to have the care of the high priest's vestments, with all their Ornaments, and to have them under the custody of the priests in the temple ; which power they used to have formerly, although at this time they were laid up in the tower of Antonia, the citadel so called, and that on the occasion follow- ing : — There was one of the [high] priests, named Hyrcanus, and as there were many of that name, he was the first of them ; this man built a tower near the temple, and when he had so done, he generally dwelt in it, and had these vestments with him ; because it was lawful for him alone to put them on, and he had them there deposited when he went down into the city, and took his ordinary garments; the same things were continued to be done by his sons, and by their sons after them ; but when Herod came to be king, he rebuilt this tower, which was very conveniently situ- ated, in a magnificent manner ; and be- cause he was a friend to Antonius, he called it by the name of Antonia, and as he found these vestments lying there, he retained them in the same place, as be- lieving that, while he had them in his custody, the people would make no in- novations against him. The like to what Herod did was done by his son Archelaus, who was made king after him ; after whom the Romans, when they entered on the government, took possession of these vestments of the high priest, and had them deposited in a stone chamber, under the seal of the priests, and of the keepers of the temple, the captain of the guard lighting a lamp there every day; and, seven days before a festival* they were delivered to them by the captain of the guard, when the high priest having puri- fied them, and made use of them, laid them up again in the same chamber where they had been laid up before, and this, the very next day after the feast was over. This was the practice at the three * This mention of the high priest* s sacred gar- ments, received seven days before a festival, and purified in those days against a festival, as having been polluted by being in the custody of heathens, in Josephus, agrees with the traditions of the Tal- mudists. CflAP. IV.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 73 yearly festivals, and on the fast-day; but Vitellius put those garments iuto our own power, as in the days of our fore- fathers, and ordered the captain of the guard not to trouble himself to inquire where they were laid, or when they were to be used ; and this he did as an act of kindness to oblige the nation to him. Besides which, he also deprived Joseph, who was called Caiaphas, of the high- priesthood, and appointed Jonathan, the son of Ananus, the former high priest, to succeed him. After which, he took his journey back to Antiocli. Moreover, Tiberius sent a letter to Vi- tellius, and commanded him to make a league of friendship with Artabanus, the king of Parthia ; for, while he was his enemy, he terrified him because he had taken Armenia away from him, lest he should proceed farther, and told him he should not otherwise trust him than upon his giving him hostages, and especially his son Artabanus. Upon Tiberius's writing thus to Vitellius, by the offer of great presents of money, he persuaded both the king of Iberia and the king of Albania to make no delay, but to fight against Arta- banus : and, although they would -not do it themselves, yet did they give the Scy- thians a passage through their country, and opened the Caspian gates to them, and brought them upon Artabanus. So Armeuia was again taken from the Par- thians, and the country of Parthia was filled with war, and the principal of their men were slain, and all things were in disorder among them : the king's son also himself fell in these wars, together with many ten thousands of his army. Vitel- lius had also sent such great sums of money to Artabauus's father's kinsmen and friends, that he had almost procured him to be slain by the means of those bribes which they had taken. And when Artabanus perceived that the plot laid against him was not to be avoided, because it was laid by the principal men, and those a great many in number, and that it would certainly take effect, — when he had estimated the number of those that were truly faithful to him, as also of those who were already corrupted, but were deceitful in the kindness they pro- fessed to him, and were likely, upon trial, to go over to his enemies, he made his escape to the upper provinces, where he afterward raised a great army out of the Dahae and Sacae, and fought with his enemies, and retained his princi- pality. When Tiberius had heard of these things, he desired to have a league of friendship made between him and Artaba^ nus ; and wheu, upon this invitation, he received the proposal kindly, Artabanus and Vitellius went to Euphrates, and, as a bridge was laid over the river, they each of them came with their guards about them, and met one another on the midst of the bridge. And wheu they had agreed upon the terms of peace, Herod the te- trach erected a rich teut on the midst of the passage, and made them a feast there. Artabanus also, not long afterward, sent his son Darius as an hostage, with many presents, among which there was a man seven cubits tall — a Jew he was by birth, and his name was Eleazar, who, for his tallness, was called a giant. After which, Vitellius went to Antioch, and Artabanus to- Babylon; but Herod [the tetrarch], being desirous to give Caesar the first information that they had obtained host- ages, sent posts with letters, wherein he had accurately described all the particu- lars, and had left nothing for the consular Vitellius to inform him of. Put when Vitellius's letters were sent, and Ctesar had let him know that he was acquainted with the affairs already, because Herod had given him an account of them before, Vitellius was very much troubled at it; and supposing that he had been thereby a greater sufferer than he really was, he kept up a secret anger upon this occasion, till he could be revenged on him, which he was after Caius had taken the govern- ment. About this time it was that Philip, Herod's brother, departed this life, in the twentieth year of the reign of Tiberius,* after be had been tetrarch of Trachouitis, and Gaulonitis, and of the nation of the Bataneans also, thirty-seven years. He had shown himself a person of modera- tion and quietness in the conduct of his life and government; he constantly lived in that country which was subject to him; he used to make his progress with a few chosen friends; his tribunal also, on which he sat in judgment, followed him in his progress; and when any one met him who wanted his assistance, he made no delay, but had his tribuual set down immediately, * Herod died about September, in the fourth year before the Christian era, and Tiberius began to reign August 19, A. D. 1-1. 74 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIIL , wheresoever he happened to be, and sat down upon it, and heard the complaint; he there ordered the guilty that were con- victed to be punished, and absolved those that were accused, unjustly. He died at Julias; and when he was carried to that monument which he had already erected for himself beforehand, he was buried with great pomp. His principality Ti- berius took (for he left no sons behind him) and added it to the province of Syria, but gave order that the tributes which arose from it should be collected, and laid up in his tetrarchy. CHAPTER V. Herod the tetrarch makes war with Aretas, king of Arabia — is beaten by him — Death of John the Baptist. About this time Aretas (the king of Arabia Petrea) and Herod had a quarrel, on the account following : — Herod the te- trarch had married the daughter of Aretas, and had lived with her a great while; but when he was once at Rome, he lodged with Herod, who was his brother, indeed, but not by the same mother; for this Herod was the son of the high-priest Simon's daughter. However, he fell in love with Herodias, this last Herod's wife, who was the daughter of Aristobulus their brother, and the sister of Agrippa the Great. This man ventured to talk to her about a marriage between them ; which address when she admitted, an agreement was made for her to change her habita- tion, aud come to him as soon as he should return from Rome: one article of this marriage also was this, that he should divorce Aretas's daughter. So Antipas, when he had made this agreement, sailed to Rome; but when he had done there the business he went about, and had re- turned again, his wife having discovered the agreement he had made with Herodias, and having learned it before he had notice of her knowledge of the whole design, she desired him to send her to Macherus, which is a place on the borders of the do- minions of Aretas and Herod, without informing him of any of her intentions. Accordingly Herod sent her thither, as thinking his wife had not perceived any thing ; now she had sent a good while before to Macherus, which was subject to her father, and so all things necessary for her journey were made ready for her by the general of Aretas's arm}'; and by that means she soon came into Arabia, under the conduct of the several generals, who carried her from one another suc- cessively ; and she soon came to her father, and told him of Herod's intentions. So Aretas made this the first occasion of his enmity between him and Herod, who had also some quarrel with him about their limits at the country of Gamalitis. So they raised armies on both sides, and prepared for war, and sent their generals to fight instead of themselves; and, when they had joined battle, all Herod's army was destroyed by the treachery of some fugitives, who, though they were of the tetrarchy of Philip, joined with Aretas's army. So Herod wrote about these affairs to Tiberius; who, being very angry at the attempt made by Aretas, wrote to Vi- tellius to make war upon him, and either to take him alive, and bring him to him in bonds, or to kill him, and send him his' head. This was the charge that Ti- berius gave to the president of Syria. Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as a punish- ment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist; for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness toward one another, and piety toward God, and so to come to bap- tism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to' the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body : suppos- ing still that the soul was thoroughly pu- rified beforehand by righteousness. Now, when [many] others came in crowds about him, for they were greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise,) thought it best, by put- ting him to death, to prevent any mis- chief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it should be too late. Accordingly, he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's sus- picious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a Chap. V. ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure against him. y/ So Vitellius prepared to make war with Aretas, having with him two legions of armed men ; he also took with him all those of light armature, and of the horse- men which belonged to them, and were drawn out of those kingdoms which were under the Romans, and made haste for Petra, and came to Ptolemais. But as he was marching very busily, and leading his army through Judea, the principal men met him, and desired that he would not thus march through their land ; for that the laws of their country would not per- mit them to overlook those images which were brought into it, of which there were a great many in their ensigns ; so he was persuaded by what they said, and changed that resolution of his, which he had before taken in this matter. Whereupon he ordered the army to march along the Great Plain, while he himself, with Herod the tetrarch, and his friends, went up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, an ancient festival of the Jews being then just approaching; and when he had been there, and been honourably entertained by the multitude of the Jews, he made a stay there for three days, within which time he deprived Jonathan of the high-priesthood, and gave it to his brother Theophilus ; but when on the fourth day letters came to him, which informed him of the death of Tiberius, he obliged the multitude to take an oath of fidelity to Caius ; he also recalled his army, and made them every one go home, and take their winter-quar- ters there, since, upon the devolution of the empire upon Caius, he had not the like authority of making this war which he had before. It was also reported, that when Aretas heard of the coming of Vitel- lius to fight him, he said, upon his consult- ing the diviners, that it was impossible that this army of Vitellius's could enter Petra; for that one of the rulers would die, either he that gave orders for the war, or he that was marching at the other's desire, in order to be subservient to his will, or else he against vvhom this army is prepared. So Vitellius truly retired to Antioch; but Agrippa, the son of Aristo- bulus, went up to llome, a year before the death of Tiberius, in order to treat of .some affairs with the emperor, if he might be permitted so to do. I have now a mind to describe Herod and his family, how it fared with them, partly because it is suit- able to this history to fpeak of that matter, and partly because this thing is a demon- stration of the interposition of Providence ; how a multitude of children is of no advantage, no more than any other strength that mankind set their hearts upon, besides those acts of piety which are done toward God ; for it happened, that within the revolution of 100 years, the posterity of Herod, who were a great. many in number, were, excepting a few, utterly destroyed. One may well apply this for the instruc- tion of mankind, and learn thence how unhappy they were : it will also show us the history of Agrippa, who, as he was a person most worthy of admiration, so was he from a private man, beyond all the expectation of those that knew him, ad- vanced to great power aud authority. I have said something of them formerly; but I shall now also speak accurately about them. Herod the Great had two daughters by Mariamne, the [grand] daughter of Hyr- canus; the one was Salampsio, who was married to Phasaelus, her first cousin, who was himself the son of Phasaelus, Herod's brother, her father making the match : the other was Cypros,. who was herself married also to her first cousin Antipater, the son of Salome, Herod's sister. Pha- saelus had five children by Salampsio — Antipater, Herod, and Alexander, and two daughters, Alexandra and Cypros; which last, Agrippa, the son of Aristobu- lus, married ; and Timius of Cyprus mar- ried Alexandra; he was a man of note, but had by her no children. Agrippa had by Cypros two sons aud three daughters, which daughters were named Bernice, Ma- riamne, and Drusilla; but the' names of the sons were Agrippa and Drusus, of which Drusus died before he came to the years of puberty; but their father, Agrippa, was brought up with his other brethren, Herod and Aristobulus, for these were also the sons of the son of Herod the Great by Bernice; but Bernice was the daughter of Costobarus and of Salome, who was Herod's sister. Aristobulus left these infants when he was slain by his father, together with his brother Alexan- der, as we have already related ; but when they had arrived at the years of puberty, this Herod, the brother of Agrippa, mar- ried Mariamne, the daughter of Olympias, who was the daughter of Herod the king, and of Joseph, the son of Joseph, who was brother to Herod the king, and had 76 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII by her a son, Aristobulus; but Aristobu- lus, the third brother of Agrippa, married Jotape, the daughter of Sampsigeramus, king of Eraesaj* they had a daughter ■who was deaf, whose name also was Jo- tape ; and these hitherto were the children of the male line ; but Herodias, their sister, was married to Herod [Philip], the son of Herod the Great, who was born of Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the high priest, who had a daughter, Salome ; after whose birth Herodias took upon her to confound the laws of our country, and divorce herself from her husband while he was alive, aud was married to Herod [An- tipas], her husband's brother by the fa- ther's side ; he was tetrarch of Galilee ; but her daughter, Salome, was married to Philip, the son of Herod, and tetrarch of Trachonitis; and, as he died childless, Aristobulus, the son of Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married her; they had three sons, Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus ; and this was the posterity of Phasaelus and Salampsio ; but the daughter of An- tipater by Cypros, was Cypros, whom Alexas Selcias, the son of Alexas, married; they had a daughter, Cypros ; but Herod and Alexander, who as we told you were the brothers of Antipater, died childless. As to Alexander, the son of Herod the king, who was slain by his father, he had two sons, Alexander aud Tigranes, by the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappado- cia. Tigranes, who was king of Armenia, was accused at Home, aud died childless ; Alexander had a son of the same name with his brother Tigranes, and was sent to take possession of the kingdom of Arme- nia by Nero ; he had a son, Alexander, who married Jotape,f the daughter of Antiochus, the king of Commagena; Ves- spasian made him king of an island in Cilicia. But these descendants of iUex- ander, soon after their birth, deserted the Jewish religion, and went over to that of the Greeks ; but for the rest of the daugh- ters of Herod the king, it happened that they died childless; and as these descend- ants of Herod, whom we have enume- rated, were in being at the same time that Agrippa the Great took the kingdom, and I have now given an account of them, it now remains that I relate the several hard fortunes which befell Agrippa, and how * There are coins still extant of this Emesa. f Spanhoim also informs us of a coin still ex tant of this Jotape, daughter of the king of Com- magena. he got clear of them, and was advanced ta the greatest height of dignity and powei. CHAPTER VI. Agrippa visits Rome — accused before Tiberius Cre- sar — imprisoned — -is set at liberty by Caius, after the death of Tiberius. A little before the death of Herod the king, Agrippa lived at Rome, and was generally brought up and conversed with Drusus, the Emperor Tiberius's son, and contracted a friendship with Antouia, the wife of Drusus the Great, who had his mother Bernice in great esteem, and was very desirous of advancing her son. Now, as Agrippa was by nature magnanimous and generous in the presents he made while his mother was alive, this inclination of his mind did not appear, that he might be able to avoid her anger for such his extravagance; but when Bernice was dead, and he was left to his own conduct, he spent a great deal extravagantly in his daily way of living, and a great deal in the immoderate presents he made, and those chiefly among Caesar's freed-men, in order to gain their assistance, insomuch that he was in a little time reduced to poverty, aud could not live at Rome any longer. Tiberius, also, forbade the friends of his deceased son to come into his sight, because, on seeing them, he should be put in mind of his son, and hia grief would thereby be revived. For these reasons, he went away from Rome and sailed to Judea, but in evil cir- cumstances, being dejected with the loss of that money which he once had, and because he had not wherewithal to pay his creditors, who were many in number, aud such as gave no room for. escaping them. Whereupon he knew not what to do ; so, for shame of his present condition, he re- tired to a certain tower, at Malatha, in Idumea, aud had thoughts of killing him- self; but his wife Cypros perceived his intentions, and tried all sorts of methods to divert him from his taking such a course : so, she sent a letter to his sister Herodias, who was now the wife of Herod the tetrarch, and let her know Agrippa's present design, and what necessity it was which drove him thereto, and desired her, as a kinswoman of his, to give him her help, and to engage her husband to do the same, since she saw how she alleviated these her husband's troubles all she could; Chap. VL] ANTIQUITIES OF THF. JEWS. 77 although she had not tlie like wealth to do it withal. So they sent for him, and allotted him Tiberias for his habitation, and appointed him some income of money for his maintenance, and made him a ma- gistrate of that city, by way of honour to him. Yet did not Herod long continue in that resolution of supporting him, though even that support was not sufficient for him; for, as once they were at a feast at Tyre, and in their cups, and reproaches were cast upon one another, Agrippa thought that was not to be borne, while 1 hit him in the teeth with his po- verty, and with his owing his necessary food to him. So he went to Flaccus, one that had been consul, and had been a very great friend to him at Rome formerly, and was now president of Syria. Hereupon Flaccus received him kindly, and he lived with him. Flaccus had also with him there Aristobulus, who was indeed Agrippa's brother, but was at vari- ance with him; yet did not their enmity to one another hinder the friendship of Flaccus to them both ; but still they were honourably treated by him. However, Aristobulus did not abate of his ill-will to Agrippa, till at length he brought him into ill terms with Flaccus; the occasion of bringing on which estrangement was this : — The Damascenes were at difference with the Sidonians about their limits, and when Flaccus was about to hear the cause between them, they understood that Agrippa had a mighty influence upon him; so they desired that he would be of their side, and for that favour pro- mised him a great deal of money; so that he was zealous in assisting the Dama- scenes as far as he was able. Now, Aris- tobulus had gotten intelligence of this promise of money to him, aud accused him to Flaccus of the same; and when, upon a thorough examination of the mat- ter, it appeared plainly so to be, he rejected Agrippa out of the number of his friends. So he was reduced to the utmost necessity, and came to Ptolemais ; and, because he knew not where else to get a livelihood, be thought to sail to Italy ; but as he was restrained from so doing by want of money, he desired Marsyas, who was his freed- man, to find some method for procuring him so much as he wanted for that purpose, by borrowing such a sum of some person or other. S.0 Marsyas desired of Peter, who was the freedman of Bernice, Agrippa's mother, and by the right of her testament was bequeathed to Antonia, to lend so much upon Agrippa's own bund and security: but he accused Agrippa of having defrauded him of certain sum- of money, and so obliged Marsyas, when he made the bond of 20,000 Attic drachmae, to accept of 2500 drachmas less than what he desired; which the other allowed of, because he could not help it. Upon the receipt of this money, Agrippa came to Anthedon, and took shipping, and was going to set sail; but Herenniua Capito, who was the procurator of Jamni . a band of soldiers to demand of him 300,000 drachmae of silver, which were by him owing to Caesar's treasury while he was at Rome, and so forced him to stay. He then pretended he would do as he bade him; but when night came on, he cut his cables, and went off, and Bailed to Alexandria, where he desired Alexan- der the alabarch to lend him 200,000 drachmas; but he said he would not lend it to him, but would not refuse it to Cy- pros, as greatly astonished at her affection to her husband, and at the other instances of her virtue ; so she undertook to repay it. Accordingly, Alexander paid them five talents at Alexandria, and promis 1 to pay them the rest of that sum at Dicearchia [Puteoli]; and this he did out of the fear he was in that Agrippa would soon spend it. So this Cypros set her husband free, and dismissed him to go on with his navi- gation to Italy, while she and her chil- dren departed for Judea. And now Agrippa came to Puteoli, whence he wrote a letter to Tiberius Caesar, who then lived at Caprcae. and told him that he had come so far, in order to wait on him, and to pay him a visit; and desired that he would give him leave to come over to Capreas : so Tibe- rius made no difficulty, but wrote to him in an obliging way in other respects; and withal told him he was glad of his safe return, and desired him to come to Capreae: and when he had come, he did not fail to treat him as kindly as he had promised him in his letter to do. But the next day came a letter to Caesar from Herennius Capito, to inform him that Agrippa had borrowed 300,000 drachmas, and not paid it .at the time appointed; but, when it was demanded of him, he ran away like a fugitive, out of the places under his government, and put it out of his power to get the money of him When Caesar had read this letter, he was 78 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII. much troubled at it, and gave order that Agrippa should be excluded from his pre- sence until he had paid that debt : upon which he was noway daunted at Caesar's anger, but entreated Antonia, the mother of Germanicus, and of Claudius, who was afterward Caesar himself, to lend him those 300,000 drachma), that he might not be deprived of Tiberius's friendship; so, out of regard to the memory of Ber- nice his mother, (for those two women were very familiar with one another,) and out of regard of his and Claudius's education together, she lent him the money; and, upon the payment of this debt, there was nothing to hinder Tibe- rius's friendship to him. After this, Tiberius Caesar recommended to him his grandson,* and ordered that he should always accompany him when he went abroad. But, upon Agrippa's kind re- ceptiou by Antonia, he betook himself to pay his respects .to Caius, who was her grandson, and in very high reputation by reason of the good-will they bore his father. f Now, there was one Thallus, a freed man of Caesar, of whom he borrowed 1,000,000 of drachmae, and thence repaid Antonia the debt he owed her; and by spending the overplus in paying his court to Caius, became a person of great autho- rity with him. Now, as the friendship which Agrippa had for Caius had come to a great height, there happened some words to pass be- tween them, as they once were in a chariot together, concerning Tiberius; Agrippa praying [to God] (for they two sat by themselves) that Tiberius might soon go off the stage, and leave the government to Caius, who was in every respect more worthy of it. Now, Euty- chus, who was Agrippa's freedman, and drove his chariot, heard these words, and at -that time said nothing of them ; but when Agrippa accused him of stealing some garments of his, (which was cer- tainly true,) he ran away from him ; but when he was caught, and brought before Piso, who was governor of the city, and the man was asked why he ran away, he replied, that he had somewhat to say to Caesar, that tended to his security and preservation : so Piso bound him, and sent him to Capreae. But Tiberius, ac- cording to his usual custom, kept him still in bonds, being a delayer of affairs, * Tiberius junior. •j- Germanicus. if ever there was any other king or tyrant that was so ; for he did not admit ambas- sadors quickly, and no successors were despatched away to governors or procu- rators of the provinces that had been formerly sent, unless they were dead; whence it was that he was so negligent in hearing the causes of prisoners ; inso- much that when he was asked by his friends what was the reason of his delay in such cases, he said that he delayed to hear ambassadors, lest, upon their quick dismission, other ambassadors should be appointed, and return upon him ; aud so he should bring trouble upon himself in the public reception and dismission : that he permitted those governors who had been sent once to their governments, [to stay there a great, while,] out of regard to the subjects that were under them ; for that all governors are naturally dis- posed to get as much as they can; and that those who are not to fix there, but to stay a short time, and that at an uncer- tainty when they shall be turned out, do the more severely hurry themselves on to fleece the people; but that, if their go- vernment be long continued to them, they are at last satiated with the spoils, as having gotten a vast deal, and so be- come at length less sharp in their pil- laging ; but that, if successors are sent quickly, the poor subjects who are ex- posed to them as a prey will not be able to bear the new ones, while they shall not have the same time allowed them wherein their predecessors had filled themselves, and so grow more uncon- cerned about getting more ; and this be- cause they are removed before they have had time [for their oppressions]. He gave them an example to show his mean- ing : — A great number of flies came about the sore places of a man that had been wounded ; upon which one of the standers- by pitied the man's misfortune, and think- ing he was not able to drive away those flies himself, was going to drive them away for him; but he prayed him to let them alone. The other, by way of reply, asked him the reason of such a prepos- terous proceeding, in preventing relief from his present misery ; to which he answered, "If thou drivest these flies away, thou wilt hurt me worse; for as these are already full of my blood, they do not crowd about me, nor pain me so much as before, but are sometimes more remiss, while the fresh ones that come, Chap. VI.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. F9 almost famished, and find me quite tired down already, will be my destruction. For this cause, therefore, it is that I am myself careful not to send such new governors perpetually to those my sub- jects, who are already sufficiently harassed by many oppressions, as may, like tbese flies, further distress them ; and so, be- sides their natural desire of gain, may have this additional incitement to it, that they expect to be suddenly deprived of that pleasure which they take in it." And, as a further attestation to what I say of the dilatory nature of Tiberius, I appeal to this his practice itself; for, although he was emperor twenty-two years, he sent in all but two procurators to govern the nation of the Jews, — G-ratus, and his successor in the government, Pilate. Nor was he in one way of acting with respect to the Jews, and in another with respect to the rest of his subjects. He further informed them, that even in the hearing of the causes of prisoners, he made such delays-, because immediate death to those that must be condemned to die would be an alleviation of their present miseries, while those wicked wretches have not de- served any favour; but I do it, " that by being harassed with the present calamity, they may undergo greater misery." On this account it was that Eutychus could not obtain a hearing, but was kept still in prison. However, some time after- ward, Tiberius came from Capreae to Tus- culanum, which is about 100 furlongs from Rome. Agrippa then desired of Antonia that she would procure a hearing for Eutychus, let the matter whereof he accused him prove what it would. Now, Antonia was greatly esteemed by Tiberius on all accounts, from the dignity of her relation to him, who had been his brother Drusus's wife, and from her eminent chas- tity ; for though she was still a young woman, she continued in her widowhood, and refused all other matches, although Augustus had enjoined her to be married to somebody else; yet did she all along preserve her reputation free from reproach. She had also been the greatest benefactress to Tiberius, when there was a very dan- gerous plot laid against him by Sejanus, a man who had been her husband's friend, and who had the greatest authority, because he was general of the army, and when many members of the senate, and many of the freedmen, joined with hinf, and the soldiery were corrupted, and the plot had come to a great height. Now, Seja- nus had certainly gained his point, had not Antonia's boldness been more wisely conducted than Sejanus's malice ; for, when she had discovered his di against Tiberius, she wrote him an account of the whole, and gave the letter to Pallas, the most faithful of her servant-, and sent him to Capreae to Tiberius, who, when he understood it, slew Sejanus and bis confederates ; so that Tiberius, who had her in great esteem before, now looked upon her with still greater respect, and de- pended upon her in all things. So, when Tiberius was desired by this Antonia to examine Eutychus, he answered, " If, indeed, Eutychus hath falsely accused Agrippa in what he hath said of him, he hath had sufficient punishment by what I have done to him already; but, if upon examination, the accusation appears to be true, let Agrippa have a care, lest, out of desire of punishing this freedman, he does not rather bring a punishment upon himself." Now, when Antonia told Agrip- pa of this, he was still much more press- ins that the matter might be examined into; so Antonia, upon Agrippa's lying hard at her continually to beg this favour, took the following opportunity : — As Tibe- rius lay once at his ease upon his sedan, and was carried about, and Caius, her grandson, and Agrippa, were before him after dinner, she walked by the sedan, and desired him to call Eutychus, and have him examined ; to which he replied, " 0 Antonia ! the gods are my witnesses that I am induced to do what I am going to do, not by my own inclination, but because I am forced to do it by thy prayers." "When he had said this, he ordered Marco, who succeeded Sejanus, to bring Eutychus to him ; accordingly, without any delay, he was brought. Then Tiberius asked him what he had to say against a man who had given him his liberty. Upon which he said, " 0 my lord! this Caius, and Agrippa with him, were once riding in a chariot, when I sat at their feet, and, among other discourses that passed, Agrippa said to Caius, < Oh that the day would once come when this old fellow will die, and name thee for the governor of the habitable earth : for then this Tiberius, his grandson, would be nc hinderance, but would be taken off by thee, and that earth would be happy, and I happy also.'" Now, Tiberius took these to be truly Agrippa's words, and bearing 80 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII. a grudge withal at Agrippa, because, when he had commanded him to pay his respects to Tiberius, his grandson, and the son of Drusus, Agrippa had not paid him that respect, but had disobeyed his commands, and transferred all his regard to Caius; he said to Marco, "Bind this man." But Marco, not distinctly knowing which of them it was whom he bade him bind, and not expecting that he would have any such thing done to Agrippa, he forbore, and came to ask more distinctly what it was that he said. But when Ccesar had gone round the hippodrome, he found Agrippa stand- ing . " For certain," said he, " Marco, this is the man I meant to have bound ;" and when he still asked, " Which of these is to be bound?" he said Agrippa. Upon which Agrippa betook himself to make supplication for himself, putting him in mind of his son, with whom he was brought up, and of Tiberius [his grand- son], whom he had educated, but all to no purpose, for they led him about bound even in his purple garments. It was also very hot weather, and they had but little wine to their meal, so that he was very thirsty; he was also in a sort of agony, and took this treatment of him heinously : as he therefore saw one of Caius's slaves, whose name was Thaumastus, carrying some water in a vessel, he desired that he would let him drink; so the servant gave him some water to drink ; and he drank heart- ily, and said : " 0 thou boy ! this service of thine to me will be for thy advantage ; for, if I once get clear of these bonds, I will soon procure thee thy freedom from Caius, who has not been wanting to minis- ter to me now I am in bonds, in the same manner as when I was in my former state and dignity." Nor did he deceive him in what he promised him, but made him amends for what he had now done ; for, when afterward Agrippa had come to the kingdom, he took particular care of Thau- mastus, and got him his liberty from Caius, and made him the steward over his own estate; and when he died, he left him to Agrippa his son, and to Bernice his daughter, to miuistcr to them in the same capacity. The man also grew old in that honourable post, and therein died. But all this happened a good while later. Now, Agrippa stood in his bonds be- fore the royal palace, and leaned on a certain tree for grief, with many others, who were in bonds also; and as a certain bird sat upon the tree on which Agrippa leaned, (the Romans called this bird bu- bo,) [an owl], one of those that were bound, a German by nation, saw him, and asked a soldier who that man in purple was; and when he was informed that his name was Agrippa, and that he was by nation a Jew, and one of the principal men of that nation, he asked leave of the soldier to whom he was bound,* to let him come near to him, to speak with him; for that he had a mind to inquire of him about some things relating to his country; which liberty, when he had obtained, as he stood near him, be said thus to him by an interpreter: — "This sudden change of thy condition, 0 young man ! is grievous to thee, as bringing on thee a manifold and very great adversity; nor wilt thou believe me, when I foretell how thou wilt get clear of this misery which thou art now under, and how Divine Provideuce will provide for thee. Know, therefore, (and I appeal to my own country gods, as well as to the gods of this place, who have awarded these bonds to us,) that all I am going to say about thy concerns shall neither be said for favour nor bribe- ry, nor out of any endeavour to make thee cheerful .without cause ; for such predictions, when they come to fail, make the grief at last, and in earnest, more bitter than if the party had never heard of any such thing. However, though I run the hazard of my ownself, I think it fit to declare to thee the prediction of the gods. It cannot be that thou shouldst long continue in these bonds; but thou wilt soon be delivered from them, and wilt be promoted to the highest dignity and power, and thou wilt be envied by all those who now pity thy hard fortune; and thou wilt be happy till thy death, and wilt leave thine happiness to the children whom thou shalt have. But, do thou remember, when thou seest this bird again, that thou wilt then live but five days longer. This event will be brought to pass by that God who hath sent this bird hither to be a sign unto thee. And I cannot but think it unjust to conceal from thee what I know concerning thee, that, by thy knowing beforehand what happiness is coming upon thee, thou mayest not re- gard thy present misfortunes. But, when this happiness shall actually befall thee, do * Dr. Hudson here takes notice, out of Seneca, epistle v., that this was the custom of Tiberius, to couple the prisoner and the soldier that guarded him together in the same chain. Cn.\r. VI.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 81 not forget what misery I am in myself, but endeavour to deliver me." So when the German had said this, he made Agrippa laugh at him, as much as he afterward ap- peared worthy of admiration. But now Antonia took Agrippa's misfortune to heart; however, to speak to Tiberius on his behalf, she took to be a very difficult thing, ami, indeed, quite impracticable, as to any hope of success ; yet did she procure of Marco that the soldiers that kept him should be of a gentle nature, and that the centurion who was over them, and was to diet with him, should be of the same dis- position, and that he might have leave to bathe himself every day, and that his freedmen and friends might come to him, and that other things that tended to ease him might be indulged him. So his friend Silas came in to him, and two of his freedmen, Marsyas and Stechus, brought him such sorts of food as he was fond of, and, indeed, took great care of him ; they also brought him garments, under pretence of selling them, and, when night came on, they laid them under him; and the soldiers assisted them, as Marco had given them order to do beforehand. And this was Agrippa's condition for six months' time; and in this case were his affairs. But as for Tiberius, upon his return to Caprea;, he fell sick. At first his distem- per was but gentle ; but, as that distemper increased upon him, he had small or no hopes of recovery. Hereupon he bade Euodus, who was the freedman whom he most of all respected, to bring the children to him, for that he wanted to talk to them before he died. Now, he had at present no sons of his own alive; for Drusus, who was his only son, was dead : but Drusus' s son Tiberius was still living, whose additional name was Gemellus; there was also living Caius, the son of Germanicus, who was the son of his bro- ther [Drusus]. He was now grown up, and had had a liberal education, and was well improved by it, and was in esteem and favour with the people, on account of the excellent character of his father Germanicus, who had attained the highest honour among the multitude, by the firmness of his virtuous behaviour, by the easiness and agreeableness of his con- versing with the multitude, and because the dignity he was in did not hinder his familiarity with them all, as if they were not only greatly esteemed by the people and the senate, but by every one of those nations that were subject to the Romans; some of whom were affected, when they came to him, with the gracefulness of their reception by him; and others were affected in the same manner by the report of the others that had been with him; and, upon his death, there was a lamenta- tion made by all men ; not such an oue as was to be made in way of flattery to their rulers, while they did but counter- feit sorrow, but such as was real ; while everybody grieved at his death, as if they had lost one that was near to them. And, truly, such had been his easy conversation with men, that it turned greatly to the ad- vantage of his son among all; and, among others, the soldiery were so peculiarly af- fected to him, that they reckoned it an eli- gible thing, if need were, to die themselves, if he might but attain to the government. But wdien Tiberius had given order to Euodus to bring the children to him the next day in the morning, he prayed to his country gods to show him a manifest signal which of those children should come to the government; being very de- sirous to leave it to his son's son, but still depending upon what God would fore- show concerning them, more than upon his own opinion and inclination ; so he made this to be the omen, that the go- vernment should be left to him who should come to him first the next day. When he had thus resolved within him- self, he sent to his grandson's tutor, and ordered him to bring the child to him early in the morning, as supposing that God would permit him to be made em- peror. But God proved opposite to his designation; for, while Tiberius was thus contriving matters, and, as soon as it was at all day, he bade Euodus to call in that child which should be there ready. So he went out, and found Caius before the door, for Tiberius had not yet come, but stayed waiting for his breakfast ; for Euo- dus knew nothing of what his lord in- tended; so he said to Caius, "Thy father calls thee," and then brought him in. As soon as Tiberius saw Caius, and not before, he reflected on the power of God, and how the ability of bestowing the government on whom he would was en- tirely taken from him ; and thence he was not able to establish what he had intended. So he greatly lamented that his equals; by which behaviour he was his power of establishing what he hud Vol. II.— 6. 2 0 82 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII before contrived was taken from him, and that his grandson Tiberius was not only to lose the Roman empire by his fatality, but his own safety also; because his preservation would now depend upon such as would be more potent than himself, who would think it a thing not to be borne that a kinsman should live with them, and so his relation would not be able to protect him : but he would be feared and hated by him who had the supreme authority, partly on account of his being next to the empire, and partly on account of his perpetually contriving to get the government, both in order to preserve himself, and to be at the head of affairs also. Now, Tiberius had been very much given to astrology,* and the calcula- tion of nativities; and had spent his life in the esteem of what predictions had proved true, more than those whose pro- fession it was. Accordingly, when he once saw Galba coming in to him, he said to his most intimate friends, that there came in a man that would one day have the dignity of the Roman empire. So that this Tiberius was more addicted to all ouch sorts of diviners than any other of the Roman emperors, because he had found them to have told the truth in his own affairs; and, indeed, he was now in great distress upon this accident that had befallen him, and was very much grieved at the destruction of his son's son, which he foresaw, and complained of himself, that he should have made use of such a method of divination beforehand, while it was in his power to have died without grief by this knowledge of futurity ; whereas he was now tormented by his foreknowledge of the misfortune of such as were dearest to him, and must die under that torment. Now, although he was disordered at this unexpected revolu- tion of the government to those for whom he did not intend it, he spake thus to Caius, though unwillingly, and against his own inclination: — "0 child, although Tiberius be nearer related to me than thou art, I by my own determination, and the conspiring suffrage of the gods, do give, and put into thine hand, the Roman empire; and I desire thee never to be un- mindful when thou comest to it, either of my kindness to thee, who set thee in so high a dignity, or of thy relation to * This is a known thing among the Roman histo- rians and poets, that Tiberius was greatly given to astrology and divinatit u. Tiberius: but as thou knowest that I am, together with and after the gods, the procurer of so great happiness to thee, so I desire that thou wilt make me a return for my readiness to assist thee, and wilt take care of Tiberius, because of his near relation to thee. Besides which, thou art to know, that, while Tiberius is alive, he will be a security to thee, both as to em- pire and as to thy own preservation ; but, if he die, that will be but a prelude to thy own misfortunes; for to be alone under the weight of such vast affairs, is very dangerous; nor will the gods suffer those actions which are unjustly done, contrary to that law which directs men to do other- wise, to go off unpunished." This was the speech which Tiberius made; which did not persuade Caius to act accordingly, although he had promised so to do; but, when he was settled in the government, he took off this Tiberius, as was predicted by the other Tiberius; as he was also himself, in no long time afterward, slain fcy a secret plot laid against him. So when Tiberius had at this time ap- pointed Caius to be his successor, he out- lived but a few days, and then died, after he had held the government twenty-two years, five months, and three days. Now Caius was the fourth emperor ; but when the Romans understood that Tiberius was dead, they rejoiced at the good news, but had not courage to believe it; not be- cause they were unwilling it should be true, for they would have given large sums of money that it might be so, but because they were afraid that, if they had showed their joy when the news proved false, their joy should be openly known, and they should be accused for it, and be thereby undone ; for this Tiberias had brought a vast number of miseries on the best families of the Romans, since he was easily inflamed with passion in all cases, and was of such a temper as rendered his anger irrevocable, till he had executed the same, although he had taken a hatred against men without reason; for he was by nature fierce in all the sentences he gave, and made death the penalty for the slightest offences; insomuch, that when the Romans heard the rumour about his death gladly, they were restrained from the enjoyment of that pleasure by the dread of 6" ch miseries as they foresaw would follow, if their hopes proved ill- grounded Now Marsjas, Agrippa's freed- man, as soon as he heard of Tiberius'd Chap. TIL] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. S3 death, came running to tell Agrippa the news; and finding him going out to the bath, he gave him a nod, and said, in the Hebrew tongue, "The lion is dead;" who, understanding his meaning, and being overjoyed at the news, "Nay," said he, "but all sorts of thanks and hap- piness attend thee for this news of thine : only I wish that what thou sayest may prove true." Now the centurion who was set to keep Agrippa, when he saw with what haste Marsyas came, and what joy Agrippa had from what he said, he had a sudden suspicion that his words implied some great innovation of affair?, and he asked them about what was said. They at first diverted the discourse ; but upon his further pressing, Agrippa, with- out more ado, told him, for he had al- ready become his friend; so he joined with him in that pleasure which this news occasioned, because it would be fortunate to Agrippa, and made him a supper: but, as they were feasting, and the cups went about, there came out one who said, that Tiberius was still alive, and would return to the city in a few days. At which news the centurion was exceedingly troubled, because he had done what might cost him his life, to have treated so joyfully a prisoner, and this upon the news of the death of Caesar; so he thrust Agrippa from the couch whereon he lay, and said, "Dost thou think to cheat me by a lie about the emperor without punishment? and shalt not thou pay for this thy mali- cious report at the price of thine head?" When he had so said, he ordered Agrippa to be bound again, (for he had loosed him before,) and kept a more severe guard over him than formerly, and in that evil condi- tion was Agrippa that night; but the next day the rumour increased in the city, and confirmed the news that Tiberius was certainly dead ; insomuch, that men durst now openly and freely talk about it; nay some offered sacrifices on that account. Several letters also came from Caius ; one of them to the senate, which informed them of the death of Tiberius, and of his own entrance on the government ; another to Piso, the governor of the city, which told him the same thing. He also gave order that Agrippa should be removed out of the camp, and go to that house where he lived before he was put in prison; so that he was now out of fear as to his own affairs; for, although he was still in custody, yet, it was with ease to his own affairs. Now, as soon as Caiua had come to Rome, and had brought Tibc- rius's dead body with him, and had made a sumptuous funeral for him, according to the laws of his country, he was much dis- posed to set Agrippa at liberty that very day; but Antouia hindered him, not out of any ill-will to the prisoner, but out of regard to decency in Caius, lest that should make men believe that he received the death of Tiberius with pleasure, when he loosed one whom he had bound imme- diately. However, there did not many days pass ere he sent for him to his house, and had him shaved, and made him change his raiment; after which he put a diadem upon his head, and ap- pointed him to be king of the tetrarch^ of Philip. He also gave him the te- trarchy of Lysanias,* and changed his iron chain for a golden one of equal weight. He also sent Marullus to be procurator of Judea. Now, in the second year of the reign of Caius Caesar, Agrippa desired leave to be given him to sail home and settle the affairs of his government; and he pro- mised to return again when he had put the rest in order, as it ought to be put. So, upon the emperor's permission, he came into his own country, and appeared to them all unexpectedly as a king, and thereby demonstrated to the men that saw him, the power of fortune, when they compared his former poverty with his present happy affluence; so some called him a happy man; and others could not well believe that things were so much changed with him for the better. CHAPTER VII. IlcruJ the tetrarch banished. But Hcrodias, Agrippa's sister, who now lived as wife to that Herod who was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, took this authority of her brother in an envious manner, particularly when she saw that he had a greater dignity bestowed on him than her husband had; since, when he ran away, he was not able to pay his debts; and now he had come back, it was because he was in a way of diguity and of great fortune. She was therefore griev- ed and much displeased at so great a * Although Cains now promised to give Agrippa (.he tetrarchy ol* Lysanias, yet it was not actually conferred upon him till the reign of Claudius. 84 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIIL mutation of his affairs; and chiefly when she saw him marching among the multitude with the usual ensigns of royal authority, she was not able to conceal how miserable she was by reason of the envy she had toward him; but she excited her hus- band, and desired that he would sail to Home, to court honours equal to his; for she said, that she could not bear to live any longer, while Agrippa, the son of that Ari>tobulus who was condemned to die by his father, one that came to her hus- band in such extreme poverty, that the necessaries of life were forced to be en- tirely supplied him day by day; and when he fled away from his creditors by sea, he now returned a king: while he was himself the son of a king, and while the near relation he bore to royal autho- rity called upon him to gain the like dignity, he sat still, and was contented with a more private life. "But then, Herod, although thou wast formerly not concerned to be in a lower condition than thy father, from whom thou wast derived, had been, yet do thou now seek after the dignity which thy kinsman hath attained to ; and do not thou bear this contempt, that a man who admired thy riches should be in greater honour than thyself, nor suffer his poverty to show itself able to purchase greater things- than our abun- dance ; nor do thou esteem it other than a shameful thing to be inferior to one who, the other day, lived upon thy charity. But let us go to Rome, and let us spare no pains nor expenses, either of silver or gold, since they cannot be kept for any better use than for the obtaining of a kingdom." But for Herod, he opposed her request at this time, out of the love of ease, and hav- ing a suspicion of the trouble he should have at Rome; so he tried to instruct her better. But the more she saw him draw back, the more she pressed him to it, and desired him to leave no stone unturned in order to be king : and, at last, she left not off till she engaged him, whether he would or not, to be of her sentiments, because he could no otherwise avoid her importunity. So, he got all things ready, after as sumptuous a manner as he was able, and spared for nothing, and went up to Rome, and took Herodias aloug with him. But Agrippa, when he was made sensible of their intentions and prepara- tions, he also prepared to go thither; and, as Boon as he heard they set sail, he sent Fortunatus, one of his freedmen, to Rome, to carry presents to the emperor, and letters against Herod, and to give Caius a particular account of those mat- ters, if he should have any opportunity. This man followed Herod so quick, and had so prosperous a voyage, and came so little after Herod, that while Herod was with Caius, he came himself, and deli- vered his letters ; for they both sailed to Dicearchia, and found Caius at Baiae, which is itself a little city of Campania, at the distance of about five furlongs from Dicearchia. There are in that place royal places, with sumptuous apartments, every emperor still endeavouring to outdo his predecessor's magnificence ; the palace also affords warm baths, that spring out of the ground of their own accord, which are of advantage for the recovery of the health of those that make use of them; and, besides, they minister to men's luxury also. Now Caius saluted Herod, for he first met with him, and then look- ed upon the letters which Agrippa had sent him, and which were written in order to accuse Herod; wherein he ac- cused him, that he had been in confe- deracy with Sejanus, against Tiberius's government, and that he was now confe- derate with Artabanus, the king of Parthia, in opposition to the government of Caius; as a demonstration of which, he alleged that he had armour sufficient for 70,000 men, ready in his armoury. Caius was moved at this information, and asked Herod whether what was said about the armour was true; and when he confessed there was such armour there, for he could not deny the same, the truth of it being too notorious, Caius took that to be a sufficient proof of the accusation that he intended to revolt. So he took away from him his tetrarchy, and gave it by way of addition to Agrippa's kingdom; he also gave Herod's money to Agrippa, and, by way of punishment, awarded him a perpetual banishment, and appointed Lyons, a city of Gaul, to be his place of habitation. But when he was informed that Herodias was Agrippa's sister, he made her a present of what money was her own, and told her that it was her brother who prevented her being put under the same calamity with her hus- band. But she made this reply : — ''Thou, indeed, 0 emperor! actest after a magnificent manner, and as becomes thyself, in what thou offerest me; but Chap. VIII.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 85 the kindness which I have for my hus- band hinders me from partaking of the favour of thy gift: for it is not just that 1, who have been made a partner in his prosperity, should forsake him in his misfortunes." Hereupon Caius was an- gry at her, and sent her with Herod into banishment, and gave her estate to Agrippa. And thus did God punish Hc- rodias for her envy at her brother, and Herod also for giving ear to the vain discourses of a woman. Now, Caius managed public affairs with great mag- nanimity during the first and second years of his reign, and behaved himself with such moderation that he gained the good-will of the Romans themselves, and of his other subjects. But, in process of time, he went beyond the bounds of human nature in his conceit of himself, and, by reason of the vastness of his do- minions, made himself a god, and took upon himself to act in all things to the reproach of the Deity itself. CHAPTER VIII. Embassy of the Jews to Caius — Caius sends Petro- nius into Syria to make war against the Jews. There was now a tumult arisen at Alex- andria, between the Jewish inhabitants and the Greeks; and three ambassadors were chosen out of each party that were at variance, who came to Caius. Now, one of these ambassadors from the people of Alexandria was Apion, who uttered many blasphemies against the Jews; and, among other things that he said, he charged them with neglecting the ho- nours that belonged to Caesar; for that while all who were subject to the Roman empire built altars and temples to Caius, and, in other regards, universally received him as they received the gods, these Jews alone thought it a dishonourable thing for them to erect statues in honour of him, as well as to swear by his name. Many of these severe things were said by Apion, by which he hoped to provoke Caius to anger at the Jews, as he was likely to be. But Philo, the principal of the Jewish embassy, a man eminent on all accounts, brother to Alexander the alabarch, and one not unskilful* in philo- * Alexander, the alahareh, or governor of the Jews, at Alexandria, and brother to Philo. is i. by Bishop Pearson, to be the same with xander who is mentioned by Si. Luke as of the kindred of the high priests. Acts iv. 0. Sophy, was ready to betake himself to make his defence against those accusa- tions; but Caius prohibited him, and bade him begone: he was also in such a rage, that it openly appeared he was about to do them some very great mischief. So Philo, being thus affronted, went out, and said to those Jews who were about him, that they should be of good courage, since Caius's words indeed showed anger at them, but in reality had already set God against himself. Hereupon Caius, taking it very hei- nously that he should be thus despised by the Jews alone, sent Petronius to be president of Syria, and successor in the government to Vitellius, and gave him order to make an invasion into Judea, with a great body of troops, and, if they would admit of his statue willingly, to erect it in the temple of God ; but, if they were obstinate, to conquer them by war, and then to do it. Accordingly, Petronius took the government of Syria, and made haste to obey Csesar's epistle. He got together as great a number of auxiliaries as he possibly could, and took with him two legions of the Roman army, and came to Ptolemais, and there wintered, as in- tending to set about the war in the spring. He also wrote word to Caius what he had resolved to do; who commended him for his alacrity, and ordered him to go on, and to make war with them, in case the}' would not obey his commands. But there came many ten thousands of the Jews to Petro- nius, to Ptolemais, to offer their petitions to him, that he would not compel them to transgress and violate the law of their forefathers; "but if," said they, "thou art entirely resolved to bring this statue, and erect it, do thou first kill us, and then do what thou hast resolved on; for, while we are alive, we cannot permit such things as are forbidden us to be done by the au- thority of our legislator, and by our fore- fathers' determination that such prohibi- tions are instances of virtue." But Petro- nius was angry at them, and said, "If, indeed, I were myself emperor, and were at liberty to follow my own inclination, and then had designed to act thus, these your words would be justly spoken to me; but now Ccesar hath sent to me, I am under the necessity of being subservient to his decrees, because a disobedience to them will bring upon me inevitable destruction." Then the Jews replied, "Since, therefore, thou art so disposed, O 8G ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII. Petrouius! that thou wilt not disobey Caius'a epistles, neither will we transgress the commands of our law; and as we de- pend upon the excellency of our laws, and, by the labours of our ancestors, have con- tinued bitherto without suffering them to be transgressed, we dare not by any means suffer ourselves to be so timorous as to transgress those laws out of the fear of death, which God hath determined are for our advantage; and, if we fall into mis- fortunes, we will bear them, in order to preserve our laws, as knowing that those wbo expose themselves to dangers have good hope of escaping them, because God will stand on our side when, out of regard to him, we undergo afflictions, and sus- tain the uncertain turns of fortune. But, if we should submit to thee, we would be greatly reproached for our cowardice, as thereby showing ourselves ready to transgress our law; and we should incur the great anger of God also, who, even thy- self being judge, is superior to Caius." When Petronius saw by their words that their determination was hard to be removed, and that, without a war, he should not be able to be subservient to Cuius in the dedication of his statue, and that there must be a great deal of blood- shed, he took his friends, and the servants that were about him, and hasted to Tibe- rias, as wanting to know in what posture the affairs of the Jews were ; and many ten thousands of the Jews met Petronius again, when he had come to Tiberias. These thought they must run a mighty hazard if they should have a war with the Romans, but judged that the transgression of the law was of much greater conse- quence, and made supplication to him that he would by no means reduce them to such di.-tresses, nor defile their city with the dedication of the statue. Then Petro- nius said to them, " Will you then make war with Caesar, without considering his great preparations for war, and your own weakness?" They replied, "We will not by any means make war with him; but still we will die before we see our laws transgressed." So they threw themselves down upon their faces, and stretched out their throats, and said they were ready to be slain ; and this they did for forty days together, and, in the mean time, left off the tilling of their ground, and that while the season of the year required them to sow it. Thus they continued linn in their resolution, and proposed to themselves to die willingly, rather than to see the dedi- cation of the statue. When matters were in this state, Aris- tobulus, King Agrippa's brother, and Helcias the Great, and the other principal men of that family with them, went in unto Petronius, and besought him, that, since he saw the resolution of the multi- tude, he would not make any alteration, and thereby drive them to despair; but would write to Caius, that the Jews had an insuperable aversion to the reception of the statue, and how they continued with him, and left off the tillage of their ground : that they were not williug to go to war with him, because they were not able to do it, but were ready to die with pleasure, rather than suffer their laws to be trans- gressed : and how, upon the land's con- tinuing unsown, robberies would grow up, on the inability they would be under of paying their tributes; and that perhaps Caius might be thereby moved to pity, and not order any barbarous action to be done to them, nor think of destroying the nation : that if he continues inflexible in his former opinion to bring a war upon them, he may then set about it himself. And thus did Aristobulus, and the rest with him, supplicate Petronius. So Pe- tronius,* partly on account of the pressing instances which Aristobulus and the rest with him made, and because of the great consequence of what they desired, and the earnestness wherewith they made their supplication, partly on account of the firm- ness of the opposition made by the Jews, which he saw, while he thought it a hor- rible thing for him to be such a slave to the madness of Caius, as to slay so many ten thousand men, only because of their religious disposition toward God, and after that to pass his life in expectation of pu- nishment ; Petronius, I say, thought it much better to send to Caius, and to let him know how intolerable it was to him to bear the anger he might have against him for not serving him sooner, in obe- dience to his epistle, for that perhaps he might persuade him; and that if this mad resolution continued, he might then begin the war against them ; nay, that in case he should turn his hatred against himself, * This Publius Petronius was after this still pre- sident of Syria, under Claudius, and, at the desire of Agrippa, published a severe decree against the inhabitants of Dora, who, in a sort of imitation of Cams, had set up a statue of Claudius in a Jewish synagogue there. Chap. VIII.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. it was fit for virtuous persons even to die for the sake of such vast multitudes of men. Accordingly, he determined to hearken to the petitioners in this matter. lie then called the Jews together to Tiberias, who came many ten thousands in number; he also placed that army he now bad with him opposite to them; but did not discover his own meaning, but the commands of the emperor, and told them that his wrath would, without delay, be executed on such as had the courage to disobey what he had commanded, and this immediately ; and that it was fit for him who had received so great a dignity by his grant, not to contradict him in any thing: "Yet (said he) I do not think it just to have such a regard to my own safety and honour, as to refuse to sacrifice them for your preservation, who are so many in number, and endeavour to pre- serve the regard that is due to your law ; which, as it hath come down to you from your forefathers, so do you esteem it worthy of your utmost, contention to pre- serve it : nor, with the supreme assistance and power of God, will T be so hardy as to suffer your temple to fall into contempt by the means of the imperial authority. I will therefore send to Caius, and let him know what your resolutions are, and will assist your suit as far as 1 am able, that you may not be exposed to suffer on account of the honest designs you have proposed to yourselves; and may God be your assistant, for his authority is beyond all the contrivances and power of men ; and may he procure you the preservation of your ancient laws, and may not he be deprived, though without your consent, of his accustomed honours. But if Caius be irritated, and turn the violence of his rage against me, I will rather undergo all that danger and affliction that may come either on my body or my soul, than see so many of you perish, while you are acting in so excellent a manner. Do you, there- fore, every one of you, go your way about your own occupations, and fall to the cul- tivation of your ground ; I will myself send to Home, and will not refuse to serve you in all things, both by myself and by my friends." When Petronius had said this, and had dismissed the assembly of the Jews, he desired the principal of them to take care of their husbandry, and to speak kindly to the people, and encourage them to have good hope of their affairs. Thus did he readily bring the multitude to be cl again. And now did God show his pre- sence f" Petronius, and signify to him that he would afford him his assistance in his whole design ; for he had no sooner finished the speech that lie made to the Jews, but God sent down great showers of rain, contrary to human expectation; for that day was a clear day, and gave no sign, by the appearance iff the sky, of any rain ; nay, the whole year had been sub- ject to a great drought, and made men despair of any water from above, even when at any time they saw the heavens overcast with clouds ; insomuch, that when such a great quantity of rain came, and that in an unusual manner and with- out any other expectation of it, the Jews hoped that Petronius would by no means fail in his petition for them. But as to Petronius, be was mightily surprised when he perceived that God evidently took care of the Jews, and gave very plain signs of his appearance, and this to such a de- gree, that those that were in earnest much inclined to the contrary, had no power left to contradict it. This was also among those other particulars which he wrote to Oaius, which all tended to dissuade him, and by all means to entreat him not to make so many ten thousands of these men go distracted; whom, if he should slay, (for without war they would by no means suffer the laws of their worship to be set aside,) he would lose the revenue they paid him, and would be publicly cursed by them for all future ages. Moreover, that God who was their governor, had shown his power most evidently on their account, and that such a power of his as left no room for doubt about it; — and this was the business that Petronius was now engaged in. But King Agrippa, who now lived at Rome, was more and more in the favoui of Caius; and when he had once made him a supper, and was careful to exceed all others, both in expenses and in such preparations as might contribute most to his nlcasure ; nay, it was so far from the ability of others, that Caius himself could never equal, much less exceed it, (such care had he taken beforehand to exceed all men, and particularly to make all ag ble to Caesar;) hereupon Caius admired his understanding ami magnificence, that he should force himself to do all to please him, even beyond such expenses as he could bear, and wa^ dc-sirous not to bo ss ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII. behind Agrippa in that generosity which he exerted, in order to please him. So Cains, when he had drunk wine plenti- fully, and was merrier than ordinary, said thus during the feast, when Agrippa had drunk to him : — "I knew before now how great a respect thou hast had for me, and how great kindness thou hast shown me, though with those hazards to thyself, which thou underwentest under Tiberius on that account; nor hast thou omitted any thing to show thy good-will toward us, even beyond thy ability; whence it would be a base thing for me to be con- quered by thy affection. I am, therefore, desirous to make these amends for every thing in which I have been formerly de- ficient ; for all that I have bestowed on thee, that may be called my gifts, is but little. Every thing that may contribute to thy happiness shall be at thy service, and that cheerfully, and so far as my ability will reach;"* — and this was what Cains said to Agrippa, thinking he would ask for some large country, or the reve- nues of certain cities; but, although he had prepared beforehand what he would ask, yet had he not discovered his inten- tions, but made this answer to Caius im- mediately, that it was not out of any expectation of gain tbat he formerly paid his respects to him, contrary to the com- mands of Tiberius, nor did" he now do any thing relating to him out of regard to his own advantage, and in order to receive any thing from him : that the gifts he had already bestowed upon him were great, and beyond the hopes of even a craving man; for, although they may be beneath thy power [who art the donor], yet are they greater than my inclination and diguity, who am the receiver; — and, as Caius was astonished at Agrippa's incli- nations, and still the more pressed him to make his request for somewhat which he might gratify him with, Agrippa replied, "Since thou, 0 my lord, declarest such is thy readiness to grant, that I am worthy of thy gifts, I will ask nothing relating to my own felicity; for what thou hast al- ready bestowed on me has made me excel therein ; but I desire somewhat which may make thee glorious for piety, and render the Divinity assistant to thy de- signs, and may be for an honour to me * This behaviour of Caius to Agrippa is very like that of Herod Antipas, his uncle, to Herodias, Agrippa's sister, about John the Baptist. Matt. xiv. 6-11. among those that inquire about it, a? showing that I never once fail of obtain- ing what I desire of thee ; for my petition is this, that thou wilt no longer think of the dedication of that statue which thou hast ordered to be set up in the Jewish temple by Petronius." And thus did Agrippa venture to cast the die upon this occasion, so great was the affair in his opinion, and in reality, though he knew how dangerous a thing it was to speak; for, had not Caius ap- proved it, it had tended to no less than the loss of his life. So Caius, who was mightily taken with Agrippa's obliging behaviour, and, on other accounts, think- ing it a dishonourable thing to be guilty of falsehood before so many witnesses, in points wherein he had with such alacrity forced Agrippa to become a petitioner, and that it would look as if he had already repented of what he had said, and, because he greatly admired Agrippa's virtue, in not desiring him at all to aug- ment his own dominions, either with larger revenue or other authority, but took care of the public tranquillity, of the laws, and of the Divinity itself, he granted him what he requested. He also wrote thus to Petronius, commending him for his assembling his army, and then con- sulting him about these affairs. " If, therefore," said he, " thou hast already erected my statue, let it stand ; but if thou hast not yet dedicated it, do not trouble thyself further about it, but dismiss thy army, go back, and take care of those affairs which I sent thee about at first; for I have now no occasion for the erection of that statue. This I have granted as a favour to Agrippa, a man whom I honour so very greatly, that I am not able to con- tradict what he would have, or what he desired me to do for him." And this was what Caius wrote to Petronius, which was before he received his letter inform- ing him that the Jews were very ready to revolt about this statue, and that they seemed resolved to threaten war against the Romans, and nothing else. When, therefore, Caius was much displeased that any attempt should be made against his government, as he was a slave to base and vicious actions on all occasions, and had no regard to what was virtuous and honourable, and against whomsoever he resolved to show his anger, and that for any cause whatsoever, he suffered not himself to be restrained by any admo- Chap. IX.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 89 nition, but thought the indulging his anger to be a real pleasure, he wrote thus to Petronius : — " Seeing thou esteemest the presents made thee by the Jews to be of greater value than my commands, and art grown insolent enough to be sub- servient to their pleasure, I charge thee to become thy own judge, and to consider what thou art to do, now thou art under my displeasure, for I will make thee an example to the present and to all future ages, that they may not dare to contradict the commands of their emperor." This was the epistle which Gains wrote to Petronius; but Petronius did not re- ceive it while Caius was alive, that ship which carried it sailed so slow, the other letters came to Petronius before this, by which he understood that Caius was dead, for God would not forget the dangers Pe- tronius had undertaken on account of the Jews, and of his own honour. But when he had taken Caius away, out of his indig- nation of what he had so insolently at- tempted, in assuming to himself divine worship, both Home and all that dominion conspired with Petronius, especially those that were of the senatorian order, to give Caius his due reward, because he had been unmercifully severe to them ; for he died not long after he had written to Pe- tronius that epistle which threatened him with death. But as for the occasion of his death, and the nature of the plot against him, I shall relate them in the progress of this narration. Now, that epistle which informed Petronius of Caius's death came first; and, a little afterward, came that which commanded him to kill himself with his own hands. Whereupon he rejoiced at this coincidence as to the death of Caius, and admired God's pro- vidence, who, without the least delay, and immediately, gave him a reward for the regard he had to the temple, and the assistance he afforded the Jews for avoid- ing the dangers they were in. And by this means Petrouius escaped that danger of death which he could not foresee. CHAP. IX. Sedition among the Babylonian Jews. A very sad calamity now befell the Jews that were iu Mesopotamia, and especially those that dwelt in Babylonia. Inferior it was to none of the calamities which had gone before, and came toge- ther with a great slaughter of them, and that greater than any upon record before: concerning all which 1 shall speak more accurately, and shall explain the occasions whence these miseries came upon them. There was a city of Babylonia called Neerda; not only a very populous one, but oue that had a good and large ter- ritory about it; and, besides its other ad- vantages, full of men also. It was, besides, not easily to be assaulted by enemies, from the river Euphrates en- compassing it all round, and from the walls that were built about it. There was also the city Nisibis, situate on the same current of the river. For which reason the Jews, depending on the natural strength of these places, deposited in them that half shekel which every one, by the custom of our country, offers uuto God, as well as they did other things de- voted to him ; for they made use of these cities as a treasury, whence, at a proper time, they were transmitted to Jerusa- lem ; and many ten thousand men under- took the carriage of those donations, out of fear of the ravages of the Parthians, to whom the Babylonians were then subject. Now, there were two men, Asineus and Anileus, of the city Neerda by birth, and brethren to one another. They were des- titute of a father; and their mother put them to learn the art of weaving curtains, it not being esteemed a disgrace among them for men to be weavers of cloth. Now, he that taught them that art, and was set over them, complained that they came too late to their work, and punished them with stripes; but they took this just punishment as au affront, and carried oil' all the weapons which were kept in that house, which were not a few, and went into a certain place where was a partition of the rivers, atid was a plaee naturally very fit for the feeding of cattle, and for preserving such fruits as are usually laid up against winter. The poorest sort of the young men also resorted to them, whom they armed with the weapons they had gotten, and became their captains, and nothing hindered them from being their leaders into mischief; for, as aoou as they had become invincible, and had built themselves a citadel, they scut to such as fed cattle, and ordered them to pay them so much tribute out of them as might be sufficient for their maintenance, proposing also, that they would be their friends, if they would submit to them, 90 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XYII1. and that they would defend them from all their other enemies on every side; but that they would kill the cattle of those that refused to obey them. So, they hearkened to their proposals, (for they could do nothing else,) and sent them as many sheep as were required of them; whereby their forces grew greater, and they became lords over all they pleased, because they marched suddenly, and did them a mischief, insomuch that every- body who had to do with them chose to pay them respect; aud they became for- midable to such as came to assault them, until the report about them came to the ears of the king of Parthia himself. But when the governor of Babylonia understood this, and had a mind to put a stop to them before they grew greater, and before greater mischiefs should arise from them, he got together as great an army as he could, both of Parthians and Babylonians, and marched against them, thinking to attack them and destroy them, before any one should carry them the news that he had got an army together. He then encamped at a lake, and lay still ; but, on the next day (it was the Sabbath, which is among the Jews a day of rest from all sorts of work) he supposed that the enemy would not dare to fight him thereon, but that he would take them and carry them away prisoners, without fighting. He therefore proceeded gradu- ally, and thought to fall upon them on the sudden. Now Asineus was sitting with the rest, and their weapons lay by them ; upon which he said, " Sirs, I hear a neighing of horses; not of such as are feeding, but such as have men on their backs ; I also hear such a noise of their bridles, that I am afraid that some enemies are coming upon us to encompass us round. However, let somebody go to look about, and make report of what reality there is in the present state of things; and may what I have said prove a false alarm I" And when he had said this, some of them went to spy out what was the matter; and they came again immediately, and said to him, that "neither hast thou been mistaken in telling us what our enemies were doing, nor will those enemies permit us to be injurious to people any longer. We are caught by their intrigues like brute beasts, and there is a large body of cavalry march- ing upon us, while we are destitute of hands to defend ourselves withal, because we are restrained from doing it, by the prohibition of our law, which obliges us to rest [on this day]. But Asineus did not by any means agree with the opinion of his spy as to what was to be done, but thought it more agreeable to the law to pluck up their spirits in this necessity they had fallen into, and break their law by avenging themselves, although they should die in the action, than, by doing nothing, to please their enemies in sub- mitting to be slain by them. Accord- ingly, he took up his weapons, and in- fused courage into those that were with him, to act as courageously as himself. So they fell upon their enemies, and slew a great many of them, because they de- spised them, and came as to a certain victory, and put the rest to flight. But when the news of this fight came to the king of Parthia, he was surprised at the boldness of these brethren, and was desirous to see them, and speak with them. He therefore sent the most trusty of all his guards to say thus to them : — " The King Artabanus, although he had been unjustly treated by you, who have made an attempt against his government, yet hath he more regard to your courage- ous behaviour than to the anger he bears to you, and hath sent me to give you his right hand* and security; and he permits you to come to him safely, aud without any violence upon the road, as he wants to have you address yourselves to him as friends, without meaning any guile or deceit to you. He also promises to make you presents, and to pay you those re- spects which will make an addition of his power to your courage, and thereby be of advantage to you." Yet did Asineus himself put off his journey thither, but sent his brother Anileus with all such presents as he could procure. So he went, and was admitted to the king's presence; and when Artabanus saw Ani- leus coming along, he inquired into the reason why Asineus avoided to come along with him ; and when he understood that he was afraid, and stayed by the lake, he took an oath by the gods of his country, that he would do them no harm, if they came to him upon the assurances he gave them, and gave him his right hand. This is of the greatest force there with all these barbarians, aud affords a firm security to * The joining of the right hands was esteemed iniong tho Persians [and Parthians] m particular a mot;t inviolable obligation to fidelity. Chap. K.] ANTIQUITIES OF Till', JEWS. 91 those who converse with them ; for none of them will deceive you when once they have '/wen you their right hands, nor will any one donbt their fidelity, when that is once given, even though they were bi fore suspected of injustice. When Artabanus had done this, he sent away Anileus to persuade his brother to come to him. Now this the king did, because he wanted to curb his own governors of provinces by the courage of these Jewish brethren, lest they should make a league with them; for they were ready for a re- volt, and were disposed to rebel, had they been sent on an expedition against them. He was also afraid, lest, when he was engaged in a war, in order to subdue those governors of provinces that had re- volted, the party of Asineus and those in Babylonia should be augmented, and either make war upon him when they should hear of that revolt, or, if they should be disappointed in that case, they would not fail of doing further mischief to him. When the king had these intentions, ne sent away Anileus'; and Anileus pre- vailed on his brother [to come to the king], when he had related to him the king's go id-will, aud the oath that he had taken. Accordingly, they made haste to go to Artabauus, who received them, when they had come, with pleasure, and admired Asineus's courage in the actions be had done, and this, because he was a little man to see to, and, at first, sight, appeared con- temptible also, and such as one might deem a person of no value at all. He also said to his friends, how, upon the compa- rison, he showed his soul to be, in all re- spects, superior to his body ; and when, as they w7ere drinking together, he once showed Asineus to Abdagases, one of the geuerals of his army, and told him his name, and described the great courage he was of in war, and Abdagases had desired leave to kill him, and thereby to inflict upon him a punishment for those injuries he had done to the Parthian government, the king replied, "I will never give thee leave to kill a man who hath depended on my faith, especially not, after I have sent him my right hand, and endeavoured to gain his belief by oaths made by the gods. But, if thou be a truly warlike man, thou Btandest not in need of my perjury. Go thou, then, and avenge the Parthian go- vernment; attack this man, when he has returned back, aud conquer him by the forces that are under thy command, with- out my privity." Hereupon the king called for Asineus, and said to him, "It is time for thee, 0 thou young man ! to return home, and not provoke the indignation of my generals in this place any further, lest they attempt to murder thee, and that without my approbation. I commit to thee the country of Babylonia in trust, that it may, by thy care, be preserved free from robbers, and from other mischiefs. I have kept my faith inviolable to thee, and that not in trifling affairs, but in those that concerned thy safety, and do there- fore deserve thou shouldst be kind to me." When he had said this, and given Asineus some presents, he sent him away imme- diately; who, when he had come home, built fortresses, aud became great in a little time, and managed things with such courage and success, as no other person, that had uo higher a beginning, ever did before him. Those Parthian governors, also, who were sent that way, paid him great respect; and the honour that was paid him by the Babylonians seemed to them too small, aud beneath his deserts, although he was in no small dignity aud power there : nay, indeed, all the affairs of Mesopotamia depended upon him; and he more and more flourished in this happy condition of his for fifteen years. But as their affairs were in so flourish- ing a state, there sprang up a calamity among them on the following occasion: — When once they had deviated from that course of virtue whereby they had gained so great power, they affronted and trans- gressed the laws of their forefathers, and fell under the dominion of their lusts aud pleasures. A certain Parthian, who came as general of an army into those parts, had a wife following him, who had a vast reputation for other accomplishments, and particularly was admired above all other women for her beauty. Anileus, the brother of Asineus, either heard of that her beauty from others, or perhaps saw her himself also, and so became at once her lover and her enemy ; partly because he could not hope to enjoy this woman but by obtaining power over her as a cap- tive, and partly because he thought he could not couquer his inclinations for bcr. As soon, therefore, as h'er husband had been declared an enemy to them, and haJ fallen in the battle, the widow of the de- ceased was married to this her lover. However, this woman did not come into 92 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. [Book XVIII. their house without producing great mis- fortunes, both to Anileus himself, and to Asineus also; but brought great mischiefs upon them, on the occasion following: — Since she was led away captive, on the death of her husband, she concealed the images of those gods which were their country gods, common to her husband and to herself: now, it is the custom* of that country, for all to have the idols they worship in their own houses, and to carry them along with them when they go into a foreign land; agreeably to which custom of theirs, she carried her idols with her. Now, at first she performed her worship to them privately, but when she had be- come Anileus's married wife, she wor- shipped them in her accustomed manner, and with the same appointed ceremonies which she used in her former husband's days; upon which their most esteemed friends blamed him at first, that he did not act after the manner of the Hebrews, nor perform what was agreeable to their laws, in marrying a foreign wife, and one that transgressed the accurate appoint- ments of their sacrifices and religious ceremonies; that he ought to consider, j(est, by allowing himself in many pleasures of the body, he might lose his principality, on account of the beauty of a wife, and that high authority which, by God's bless- ing, he had arrived at. But when they prevailed not at all upon him, he slew one of them for whom he had the greatest respect, because of the liberty he took with him ; who, when he was dying, out of re- gard to the laws, imprecated a punishment upon his murderer Anileus, and upon Asineus also, and that all their compa- nions might come to a like end from their enemies; upon the two first as the prin- cipal actors of this wickedness, and upon the rest as those that would not assist him when he suffered in the defence of their laws. Now these latter were sorely grieved, yet did they tolerate these doings, because they remembered that they had arrived at their present happy state by no other means than their fortitude. But when they also heard of the worship of those gods whom the Parthians adore, they thought the injury that Anileus offered to their laws was to he borne no longer; and a greater number of them came to Asi- * This custom of the Mesopotarnians to carry tlieir household gods along with them wherever they travelled, is as old as the days of Jacob. Gen. sxxi. 19, 30-35. neus, and loudly complained of Anileus, and told him, that it had been well that he had of himself seen what was advan- tageous to them ; but that, however, it was now high time to correct, what had been done amiss, before the crime that had been committed proved the ruin of himself and all the rest of them. They added, that the marriage of this woman was made without their consent, and with- out a regard to tlieir old laws ; and that the worship which this woman paid [to her gods] was a reproach to the God whom they worshipped. Now was Asineus sensible of his brother's offence, that it had been already the cause of great mis- chiefs, and would be so for the time to come; yet did he tolerate the same from the good-will he had to so near a relation, and forgiving it to him, on account that his brother was quite overborne by his wicked inclinations. But as more and more still came about him every day, and the clamours about it became greater, he at length spoke to Anileus about these clamours, reproving him for his former actions, and desiring him for the future to leave them off, and send the woman back to her relations. But nothing was gained by these reproofs; for, as the woman perceived what a tumult was made among the people on her account, and was afraid for Anileus, lest he should come to any harm for his love to her, she infused poison into Asineus's food, and thereby took him off, and was now secure of pre- vailing, when her lover was to be judge of what should be done about her. So Anileus took the government upon himself alone, and led his army against the villages of Mi thri dates, who was a man of principal authority in Parthia, and had married King Artabanus's daughter: he also plundered them, and among that pre}7 was found much money, and many slaves, as also a great number of sheep, and many ' other things, which, when gained, make men's condition happy. Now, when Mithridates, who was there at this time, heard that his villages were taken, he was very much displeased to find that Anileus had first begun to injure him, and to affront him in his present dignity, when he had not offered any in- jury to him beforehand; and he got to- gether the greatest body of horsemen he was able, and those out of that number which were of an age fit for war, and came to fight Anileus; and when he had arrived Chap. IX. | ANTIQUITIES OF THE .JEWS. 03 at a certain village of his own, he lay still there, as intending to tight him on the day following, because it was the Sabbath, the day on which the Jews rest. And when Anileus was informed of this by a Syrian stranger of another village, who not only gave him an exact accouut of other cir- cumstances, but told him where Mithri- dates would have a feast, he took bis supper at a proper time, and marched by night, with au intent of falling upon the Parthians while they were unapprised what they should do; so he fell upon them about the fourth watch of the night; and some of them he slew while they were asleep, and others he put to flight, and took Mithridates alive, and set him naked upon an ass,* which, among the Parthians, is esteemed the greatest reproach possible. And when he had brought him into a wood with such a resolution, and his friends desired him to kill Mithridates, he soon told them his own mind to the contrary, and said, that it was not right to kill a man who was one of the princi- pal families among the Parthians, and greatly honoured with matching into the royal family; that so far as they had hitherto gone was tolerable; for, although they had injured Mithridates, yet, if they preserved his life, this benefit would be remembered by him to the advantage of those that gave it him; but that if he were once put to death, the king would not be at rest till he had made a great slaughter of the Jews that dwelt at Baby- lon; "to whose safety we ought to have a regard, both on account of our relation to them, and because, if any misfortune befall us, we have no other place to retire to, since he hath gotten the flower of their youth under him." By this thought, aud this speech of his made in council, he per- suaded them to act accordingly; so Mith- ridates was let go. But, when he had got away, his wife reproached him, that although he was son-in-law to the king, he neglected to avenge himself on those that had injured him, while he took no care about it, but was contented to have been made a captive by the Jews, and to have escaped them; and she bade him either to go back like a man of courage, or else she sware by the gods of their * This custom in Syria and Mesopotamia, of set- ting men upon an ass, by way of disgrace, is still kept up