2. In these circumstances he considered with himself how to procure some

seasonable help; but this was a hard thing to be done, while their

neighbors had no food to sell them; and their money also was gone, had

it been possible to purchase a little food at a great price. However, he

thought it his best way, by all means, not to leave off his endeavors to

assist his people; so he cut off the rich furniture that was in his

palace, both of silver and gold, insomuch that he did not spare the

finest vessels he had, or those that were made with the most elaborate

skill of the artificers, but sent the money to Petronius, who had been

made prefect of Egypt by Cæsar; and as not a few had already fled to him

under their necessities, and as he was particularly a friend to Herod,

and desirous to have his subjects preserved, he gave leave to them in

the first place to export corn, and assisted them every way, both in

purchasing and exporting the same; so that he was the principal, if not

the only person, who afforded them what help they had. And Herod taking

care the people should understand that this help came from himself, did

thereby not only remove the ill opinion of those that formerly hated

him, but gave them the greatest demonstration possible of his good-will

to them, and care of them; for, in the first place, as for those who

were able to provide their own food, he distributed to them their

proportion of corn in the exactest manner; but for those many that were

not able, either by reason of their old age, or any other infirmity, to

provide food for themselves, he made this provision for them, the bakers

should make their bread ready for them. He also took care that they

might not be hurt by the dangers of winter, since they were in great

want of clothing also, by reason of the utter destruction and

consumption of their sheep and goats, till they had no wool to make use

of, nor any thing else to cover themselves withal. And when he had

procured these things for his own subjects, he went further, in order to

provide necessaries for their neighbors, and gave seed to the Syrians,

which thing turned greatly to his own advantage also, this charitable

assistance being afforded most seasonably to their fruitful soil, so

that every one had now a plentiful provision of food. Upon the whole,

when the harvest of the land was approaching, he sent no fewer than

fifty thousand men, whom he had sustained, into the country; by which

means he both repaired the afflicted condition of his own kingdom with

great generosity and diligence, and lightened the afflictions of his

neighbors, who were under the same calamities; for there was nobody who

had been in want that was left destitute of a suitable assistance by

him; nay, further, there were neither any people, nor any cities, nor

any private men, who were to make provision for the multitudes, and on

that account were in want of support, and had recourse to him, but

received what they stood in need of, insomuch that it appeared, upon a

computation, that the number of cori of wheat, of ten attic medimni

apiece, that were given to foreigners, amounted to ten thousand, and the

number that was given in his own kingdom was about fourscore thousand.

Now it happened that this care of his, and this seasonable benefaction,

had such influence on the Jews, and was so cried up among other nations,

as to wipe off that old hatred which his violation of some of their

customs, during his reign, had procured him among all the nation, and

that this liberality of his assistance in this their greatest necessity

was full satisfaction for all that he had done of that nature, as it

also procured him great fame among foreigners; and it looked as if these

calamities that afflicted his land, to a degree plainly incredible, came

in order to raise his glory, and to be to his great advantage; for the

greatness of his liberality in these distresses, which he now

demonstrated beyond all expectation, did so change the disposition of

the multitude towards him, that they were ready to suppose he had been

from the beginning not such a one as they had found him to be by

experience, but such a one as the care he had taken of them in supplying

their necessities proved him now to be.

3. About this time it was that he sent five hundred chosen men out of

the guards of his body as auxiliaries to Cæsar, whom Aelius Gallus 16

led to the Red Sea, and who were of great service to him there. When

therefore his affairs were thus improved, and were again in a

flourishing condition, he built himself a palace in the upper city,

raising the rooms to a very great height, and adorning them with the

most costly furniture of gold, and marble scats, and beds; and these

were so large that they could contain very many companies of men. These

apartments were also of distinct magnitudes, and had particular names

given them; for one apartment was called Cæsar's, another Agrippa's. He

also fell in love again, and married another wife, not suffering his

reason to hinder him from living as he pleased. The occasion of this his

marriage was as follows: There was one Simon, a citizen of Jerusalem,

the son of one Boethus, a citizen of Alexandria, and a priest of great

note there; this man had a daughter, who was esteemed the most beautiful

woman of that time; and when the people of Jerusalem began to speak much

in her commendation, it happened that Herod was much affected with what

was said of her; and when he saw the damsel, he was smitten with her

beauty, yet did he entirely reject the thoughts of using his authority

to abuse her, as believing, what was the truth, that by so doing he

should be stigmatized for violence and tyranny; so he thought it best to

take the damsel to wife. And while Simon was of a dignity too inferior

to be allied to him, but still too considerable to be despised, he

governed his inclinations after the most prudent manner, by augmenting

the dignity of the family, and making them more honorable; so he

immediately deprived Jesus, the son of Phabet, of the high priesthood,

and conferred that dignity on Simon, and so joined in affinity with him

[by marrying his daughter].

4. When this wedding was over, he built another citadel in that place

where he had conquered the Jews when he was driven out of his

government, and Antigonus enjoyed it. This citadel is distant from

Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. It was strong by nature, and fit

for such a building. It is a sort of a moderate hill, raised to a

further height by the hand of man, till it was of the shape of a woman's

breast. It is encompassed with circular towers, and hath a strait ascent

up to it, which ascent is composed of steps of polished stones, in

number two hundred. Within it are royal and very rich apartments, of a

structure that provided both for security and for beauty. About the

bottom there are habitations of such a structure as are well worth

seeing, both on other accounts, and also on account of the water which

is brought thither from a great way off, and at vast expenses, for the

place itself is destitute of water. The plain that is about this citadel

is full of edifices, not inferior to any city in largeness, and having

the hill above it in the nature of a castle.

5. And now, when all Herod's designs had succeeded according to his

hopes, he had not the least suspicion that any troubles could arise in

his kingdom, because he kept his people obedient, as well by the fear

they stood in of him, for he was implacable in the infliction of his

punishments, as by the provident care he had showed towards them, after

the most magnanimous manner, when they were under their distresses. But

still he took care to have external security for his government as a

fortress against his subjects; for the orations he made to the cities

were very fine, and full of kindness; and he cultivated a seasonable

good understanding with their governors, and bestowed presents on every

one of them, inducing them thereby to be more friendly to him, and using

his magnificent disposition so as his kingdom might be the better

secured to him, and this till all his affairs were every way more and

more augmented. But then this magnificent temper of his, and that

submissive behavior and liberality which he exercised towards Cæsar, and

the most powerful men of Rome, obliged him to transgress the customs of

his nation, and to set aside many of their laws, and by building cities

after an extravagant manner, and erecting temples,—not in Judea indeed,

for that would not have been borne, it being forbidden for us to pay any

honor to images, or representations of animals, after the manner of the

Greeks; but still he did thus in the country [properly] out of our

bounds, and in the cities thereof 17 The apology which he made to the

Jews for these things was this: That all was done, not out of his own

inclinations, but by the commands and injunctions of others, in order to

please Cæsar and the Romans, as though he had not the Jewish customs so

much in his eye as he had the honor of those Romans, while yet he had

himself entirely in view all the while, and indeed was very ambitious to

leave great monuments of his government to posterity; whence it was that

he was so zealous in building such fine cities, and spent such vast sums

of money upon them.

6. Now upon his observation of a place near the sea, which was very

proper for containing a city, and was before called Strato's Tower, he

set about getting a plan for a magnificent city there, and erected many

edifices with great diligence all over it, and this of white stone. He

also adorned it with most sumptuous palaces and large edifices for

containing the people; and what was the greatest and most laborious work

of all, he adorned it with a haven, that was always free from the waves

of the sea. Its largeness was not less than the Pyrmum [at Athens], and

had towards the city a double station for the ships. It was of excellent

workmanship; and this was the more remarkable for its being built in a

place that of itself was not suitable to such noble structures, but was

to be brought to perfection by materials from other places, and at very

great expenses. This city is situate in Phoenicia, in the passage by sea

to Egypt, between Joppa and Dora, which are lesser maritime cities, and

not fit for havens, on account of the impetuous south winds that beat

upon them, which rolling the sands that come from the sea against the

shores, do not admit of ships lying in their station; but the merchants

are generally there forced to ride at their anchors in the sea itself.

So Herod endeavored to rectify this inconvenience, and laid out such a

compass towards the land as might be sufficient for a haven, wherein the

great ships might lie in safety; and this he effected by letting down

vast stones of above fifty feet in length, not less than eighteen in

breadth, and nine in depth, into twenty fathom deep; and as some were

lesser, so were others bigger than those dimensions. This mole which he

built by the sea-side was two hundred feet wide, the half of which was

opposed to the current of the waves, so as to keep off those waves which

were to break upon them, and so was called Procymatia, or the first

breaker of the waves; but the other half had upon it a wall, with

several towers, the largest of which was named Drusus, and was a work of

very great excellence, and had its name from Drusus, the son-in-law of

Cæsar, who died young. There were also a great number of arches where

the mariners dwelt. There was also before them a quay, [or landing

place,] which ran round the entire haven, and was a most agreeable walk

to such as had a mind to that exercise; but the entrance or mouth of the

port was made on the north quarter, on which side was the stillest of

the winds of all in this place: and the basis of the whole circuit on

the left hand, as you enter the port, supported a round turret, which

was made very strong, in order to resist the greatest waves; while on

the right hand, as you enter, stood two vast stones, and those each of

them larger than the turret, which were over against them; these stood

upright, and were joined together. Now there were edifices all along the

circular haven, made of the politest stone, with a certain elevation,

whereon was erected a temple, that was seen a great way off by those

that were sailing for that haven, and had in it two statues, the one of

Rome, the other of Cæsar. The city itself was called Cæsarea, which was

also itself built of fine materials, and was of a fine structure; nay,

the very subterranean vaults and cellars had no less of architecture

bestowed on them than had the buildings above ground. Some of these

vaults carried things at even distances to the haven and to the sea; but

one of them ran obliquely, and bound all the rest together, that both

the rain and the filth of the citizens were together carried off with

ease, and the sea itself, upon the flux of the tide from without, came

into the city, and washed it all clean. Herod also built therein a

theater of stone; and on the south quarter, behind the port, an

amphitheater also, capable of holding a vast number of men, and

conveniently situated for a prospect to the sea. So this city was thus

finished in twelve years; 18 during which time the king did not fail to

go on both with the work, and to pay the charges that were necessary.

CHAPTER 10. How Herod Sent His Sons To Rome; How Also He Was Accused By

Zenodorus And The Gadarens, But Was Cleared Of What They Accused Him Of

And Withal Gained To Himself The Good-Will Of Cæsar. Concerning The

Pharisees, The Essens And Manahem.

1. When Herod was engaged in such matters, and when he had already re-

edified Sebaste, [Samaria,] he resolved to send his sons Alexander and

Aristobulus to Rome, to enjoy the company of Cæsar; who, when they came

thither, lodged at the house of Pollio, 19 who was very fond of Herod's

friendship; and they had leave to lodge in Cæsar's own palace, for he

received these sons of Herod with all humanity, and gave Herod leave to

give his kingdom to which of his sons he pleased; and besides all this,

he bestowed on him Trachon, and Batanea, and Auranitis, which he gave

him on the occasion following: One Zenodorus 20 had hired what was

called the house of Lysanias, who, as he was not satisfied with its

revenues, became a partner with the robbers that inhabited the

Trachonites, and so procured himself a larger income; for the

inhabitants of those places lived in a mad way, and pillaged the country

of the Damascenes, while Zenodorus did not restrain them, but partook of

the prey they acquired. Now as the neighboring people were hereby great

sufferers, they complained to Varro, who was then president [of Syria],

and entreated him to write to Cæsar about this injustice of Zenodorus.

When these matters were laid before Cæsar, he wrote back to Varro to

destroy those nests of robbers, and to give the land to Herod, that so

by his care the neighboring countries might be no longer disturbed with

these doings of the Trachonites; for it was not an easy firing to

restrain them, since this way of robbery had been their usual practice,

and they had no other way to get their living, because they had neither

any city of their own, nor lands in their possession, but only some

receptacles and dens in the earth, and there they and their cattle lived

in common together. However, they had made contrivances to get pools of

water, and laid up corn in granaries for themselves, and were able to

make great resistance, by issuing out on the sudden against any that

attacked them; for the entrances of their caves were narrow, in which

but one could come in at a time, and the places within incredibly large,

and made very wide but the ground over their habitations was not very

high, but rather on a plain, while the rocks are altogether hard and

difficult to be entered upon, unless any one gets into the plain road by

the guidance of another, for these roads are not straight, but have

several revolutions. But when these men are hindered from their wicked

preying upon their neighbors, their custom is to prey one upon another,

insomuch that no sort of injustice comes amiss to them. But when Herod

had received this grant from Cæsar, and was come into this country, he

procured skillful guides, and put a stop to their wicked robberies, and

procured peace and quietness to the neighboring people.

2. Hereupon Zenodorus was grieved, in the first place, because his

principality was taken away from him; and still more so, because he

envied Herod, who had gotten it; So he went up to Rome to accuse him,

but returned back again without success. Now Agrippa was [about this

time] sent to succeed Cæsar in the government of the countries beyond

the Ionian Sea, upon whom Herod lighted when he was wintering about

Mitylene, for he had been his particular friend and companion, and then

returned into Judea again. However, some of the Gadarens came to

Agrippa, and accused Herod, whom he sent back bound to the king without

giving them the hearing. But still the Arabians, who of old bare ill-

will to Herod's government, were nettled, and at that time attempted to

raise a sedition in his dominions, and, as they thought, upon a more

justifiable occasion; for Zenodorus, despairing already of success as to

his own affairs, prevented [his enemies], by selling to those Arabians a

part of his principality, called Auranitis, for the value of fifty

talents; but as this was included in the donations of Cæsar, they

contested the point with Herod, as unjustly deprived of what they had

bought. Sometimes they did this by making incursions upon him, and

sometimes by attempting force against him, and sometimes by going to law

with him. Moreover, they persuaded the poorer soldiers to help them, and

were troublesome to him, out of a constant hope that they should reduce

the people to raise a sedition; in which designs those that are in the

most miserable circumstances of life are still the most earnest; and

although Herod had been a great while apprized of these attempts, yet

did not he indulge any severity to them, but by rational methods aimed

to mitigate things, as not willing to give any handle for tumults.

3. Now when Herod had already reigned seventeen years, Cæsar came into

Syria; at which time the greatest part of the inhabitants of Gadara

clamored against Herod, as one that was heavy in his injunctions, and

tyrannical. These reproaches they mainly ventured upon by the

encouragement of Zenodorus, who took his oath that he would never leave

Herod till he had procured that they should be severed from Herod's

kingdom, and joined to Cæsar's province. The Gadarens were induced

hereby, and made no small cry against him, and that the more boldly,

because those that had been delivered up by Agrippa were not punished by

Herod, who let them go, and did them no harm; for indeed he was the

principal man in the world who appeared almost inexorable in punishing

crimes in his own family, but very generous in remitting the offenses

that were committed elsewhere. And while they accused Herod of injuries,

and plunderings, and subversions of temples, he stood unconcerned, and

was ready to make his defense. However, Cæsar gave him his right hand,

and remitted nothing of his kindness to him, upon this disturbance by

the multitude; and indeed these things were alleged the first day, but

the hearing proceeded no further; for as the Gadarens saw the

inclination of Cæsar and of his assessors, and expected, as they had

reason to do, that they should be delivered up to the king, some of

them, out of a dread of the torments they might undergo, cut their own

throats in the night time, and some of them threw themselves down

precipices, and others of them cast themselves into the river, and

destroyed themselves of their own accord; which accidents seemed a

sufficient condemnation of the rashness and crimes they had been guilty

of; whereupon Cæsar made no longer delay, but cleared Herod from the

crimes he was accused of. Another happy accident there was, which was a

further great advantage to Herod at this time; for Zenodorus's belly

burst, and a great quantity of blood issued from him in his sickness,

and he thereby departed this life at Antioch in Syria; so Cæsar bestowed

his country, which was no small one, upon Herod; it lay between Trachon

and Galilee, and contained Ulatha, and Paneas, and the country round

about. He also made him one of the procurators of Syria, and commanded

that they should do every thing with his approbation; and, in short, he

arrived at that pitch of felicity, that whereas there were but two men

that governed the vast Roman empire, first Cæsar, and then Agrippa, who

was his principal favorite, Cæsar preferred no one to Herod besides

Agrippa, and Agrippa made no one his greater friend than Herod besides

Cæsar. And when he had acquired such freedom, he begged of Cæsar a

tetrarchy 21 for his brother Pheroras, while he did himself bestow upon

him a revenue of a hundred talents out of his own kingdom, that in case

he came to any harm himself, his brother might be in safety, and that

his sons might not have dominion over him. So when he had conducted

Cæsar to the sea, and was returned home, he built him a most beautiful

temple, of the whitest stone, in Zenodorus's country, near the place

called Panlure. This is a very fine cave in a mountain, under which

there is a great cavity in the earth, and the cavern is abrupt, and

prodigiously deep, and full of a still water; over it hangs a vast

mountain; and under the caverns arise the springs of the river Jordan.

Herod adorned this place, which was already a very remarkable one, still

further by the erection of this temple, which he dedicated to Cæsar.

4. At which time Herod released to his subjects the third part of their

taxes, under pretense indeed of relieving them, after the dearth they

had had; but the main reason was, to recover their good-will, which he

now wanted; for they were uneasy at him, because of the innovations he

had introduced in their practices, of the dissolution of their religion,

and of the disuse of their own customs; and the people every where

talked against him, like those that were still more provoked and

disturbed at his procedure; against which discontents he greatly guarded

himself, and took away the opportunities they might have to disturb him,

and enjoined them to be always at work; nor did he permit the citizens

either to meet together, or to walk or eat together, but watched every

thing they did, and when any were caught, they were severely punished;

and many there were who were brought to the citadel Hyrcania, both

openly and secretly, and were there put to death; and there were spies

set every where, both in the city and in the roads, who watched those

that met together; nay, it is reported that he did not himself neglect

this part of caution, but that he would oftentimes himself take the

habit of a private man, and mix among the multitude, in the night time,

and make trial what opinion they had of his government: and as for those

that could no way be reduced to acquiesce under his scheme of

government, he prosecuted them all manner of ways; but for the rest of

the multitude, he required that they should be obliged to take an oath

of fidelity to him, and at the same time compelled them to swear that

they would bear him good-will, and continue certainly so to do, in his

management of the government; and indeed a great part of them, either to

please him, or out of fear of him, yielded to what he required of them;

but for such as were of a more open and generous disposition, and had

indignation at the force he used to them, he by one means or other made

away, with them. He endeavored also to persuade Pollio the Pharisee, and

Satneas, and the greatest part of their scholars, to take the oath; but

these would neither submit so to do, nor were they punished together

with the rest, out of the reverence he bore to Pollio. The Essens also,

as we call a sect of ours, were excused from this imposition. These men

live the same kind of life as do those whom the Greeks call

Pythagoreans, concerning whom I shall discourse more fully elsewhere.

However, it is but fit to set down here the reasons wherefore Herod had

these Essens in such honor, and thought higher of them than their mortal

nature required; nor will this account be unsuitable to the nature of

this history, as it will show the opinion men had of these Essens.

5. Now there was one of these Essens, whose name was Manahem, who had

this testimony, that he not only conducted his life after an excellent

manner, but had the foreknowledge of future events given him by God

also. This man once saw Herod when he was a child, and going to school,

and saluted him as king of the Jews; but he, thinking that either he did

not know him, or that he was in jest, put him in mind that he was but a

private man; but Manahem smiled to himself, and clapped him on his

backside with his hand, and said, "However that be, thou wilt be king,

and wilt begin thy reign happily, for God finds thee worthy of it. And

do thou remember the blows that Manahem hath given thee, as being a

signal of the change of thy fortune. And truly this will be the best

reasoning for thee, that thou love justice [towards men], and piety

towards God, and clemency towards thy citizens; yet do I know how thy

whole conduct will be, that thou wilt not be such a one, for thou wilt

excel all men in happiness, and obtain an everlasting reputation, but

wilt forget piety and righteousness; and these crimes will not be

concealed from God, at the conclusion of thy life, when thou wilt find

that he will be mindful of them, and punish them for them." Now at that

time Herod did not at all attend to what Manahem said, as having no

hopes of such advancement; but a little afterward, when he was so

fortunate as to be advanced to the dignity of king, and was in the

height of his dominion, he sent for Manahem, and asked him how long he

should reign. Manahem did not tell him the full length of his reign;

wherefore, upon that silence of his, he asked him further, whether he

should reign ten years or not? He replied, "Yes, twenty, nay, thirty

years;" but did not assign the just determinate limit of his reign.

Herod was satisfied with these replies, and gave Manahem his hand, and

dismissed him; and from that time he continued to honor all the Essens.

We have thought it proper to relate these facts to our readers, how

strange soever they be, and to declare what hath happened among us,

because many of these Essens have, by their excellent virtue, been

thought worthy of this knowledge of Divine revelations.

CHAPTER 11. How Herod Rebuilt The Temple And Raised It Higher And Made

It More Magnificent Than It Was Before; As Also Concerning That Tower

Which He Called Antonia.

1. And now Herod, in the eighteenth year of his reign, and after the

acts already mentioned, undertook a very great work, that is, to build

of himself the temple of God, 22 and make it larger in compass, and to

raise it to a most magnificent altitude, as esteeming it to be the most

glorious of all his actions, as it really was, to bring it to

perfection; and that this would be sufficient for an everlasting

memorial of him; but as he knew the multitude were not ready nor willing

to assist him in so vast a design, he thought to prepare them first by

making a speech to them, and then set about the work itself; so he

called them together, and spake thus to them: "I think I need not speak

to you, my countrymen, about such other works as I have done since I

came to the kingdom, although I may say they have been performed in such

a manner as to bring more security to you than glory to myself; for I

have neither been negligent in the most difficult times about what

tended to ease your necessities, nor have the buildings. I have made

been so proper to preserve me as yourselves from injuries; and I imagine

that, with God's assistance, I have advanced the nation of the Jews to a

degree of happiness which they never had before; and for the particular

edifices belonging to your own country, and your own cities, as also to

those cities that we have lately acquired, which we have erected and

greatly adorned, and thereby augmented the dignity of your nation, it

seems to me a needless task to enumerate them to you, since you well

know them yourselves; but as to that undertaking which I have a mind to

set about at present, and which will be a work of the greatest piety and

excellence that can possibly be undertaken by us, I will now declare it

to you. Our fathers, indeed, when they were returned from Babylon, built

this temple to God Almighty, yet does it want sixty cubits of its

largeness in altitude; for so much did that first temple which Solomon

built exceed this temple; nor let any one condemn our fathers for their

negligence or want of piety herein, for it was not their fault that the

temple was no higher; for they were Cyrus, and Darius the son of

Hystaspes, who determined the measures for its rebuilding; and it hath

been by reason of the subjection of those fathers of ours to them and to

their posterity, and after them to the Macedonians, that they had not

the opportunity to follow the original model of this pious edifice, nor

could raise it to its ancient altitude; but since I am now, by God's

will, your governor, and I have had peace a long time, and have gained

great riches and large revenues, and, what is the principal thing of

all, I am at amity with and well regarded by the Romans, who, if I may

so say, are the rulers of the whole world, I will do my endeavor to

correct that imperfection, which hath arisen from the necessity of our

affairs, and the slavery we have been under formerly, and to make a

thankful return, after the most pious manner, to God, for what blessings

I have received from him, by giving me this kingdom, and that by

rendering his temple as complete as I am able."

2. And this was the speech which Herod made to them; but still this

speech affrighted many of the people, as being unexpected by them; and

because it seemed incredible, it did not encourage them, but put a damp

upon them, for they were afraid that he would pull down the whole

edifice, and not be able to bring his intentions to perfection for its

rebuilding; and this danger appeared to them to be very great, and the

vastness of the undertaking to be such as could hardly be accomplished.

But while they were in this disposition, the king encouraged them, and

told them he would not pull down their temple till all things were

gotten ready for building it up entirely again. And as he promised them

this beforehand, so he did not break his word with them, but got ready a

thousand waggons, that were to bring stones for the building, and chose

out ten thousand of the most skillful workmen, and bought a thousand

sacerdotal garments for as many of the priests, and had some of them

taught the arts of stone-cutters, and others of carpenters, and then

began to build; but this not till every thing was well prepared for the

work.

3. So Herod took away the old foundations, and laid others, and erected

the temple upon them, being in length a hundred cubits, and in height

twenty additional cubits, which [twenty], upon the sinking of their

foundations 23 fell down; and this part it was that we resolved to raise

again in the days of Nero. Now the temple was built of stones that were

white and strong, and each of their length was twenty-five cubits, their

height was eight, and their breadth about twelve; and the whole

structure, as also the structure of the royal cloister, was on each side

much lower, but the middle was much higher, till they were visible to

those that dwelt in the country for a great many furlongs, but chiefly

to such as lived over against them, and those that approached to them.

The temple had doors also at the entrance, and lintels over them, of the

same height with the temple itself. They were adorned with embroidered

veils, with their flowers of purple, and pillars interwoven; and over

these, but under the crown-work, was spread out a golden vine, with its

branches hanging down from a great height, the largeness and fine

workmanship of which was a surprising sight to the spectators, to see

what vast materials there were, and with what great skill the

workmanship was done. He also encompassed the entire temple with very

large cloisters, contriving them to be in a due proportion thereto; and

he laid out larger sums of money upon them than had been done before

him, till it seemed that no one else had so greatly adorned the temple

as he had done. There was a large wall to both the cloisters, which wall

was itself the most prodigious work that was ever heard of by man. The

hill was a rocky ascent, that declined by degrees towards the east parts

of the city, till it came to an elevated level. This hill it was which

Solomon, who was the first of our kings, by Divine revelation,

encompassed with a wall; it was of excellent workmanship upwards, and

round the top of it. He also built a wall below, beginning at the

bottom, which was encompassed by a deep valley; and at the south side he

laid rocks together, and bound them one to another with lead, and

included some of the inner parts, till it proceeded to a great height,

and till both the largeness of the square edifice and its altitude were

immense, and till the vastness of the stones in the front were plainly

visible on the outside, yet so that the inward parts were fastened

together with iron, and preserved the joints immovable for all future

times. When this work [for the foundation] was done in this manner, and

joined together as part of the hill itself to the very top of it, he

wrought it all into one outward surface, and filled up the hollow places

which were about the wall, and made it a level on the external upper

surface, and a smooth level also. This hill was walled all round, and in

compass four furlongs, [the distance of] each angle containing in length

a furlong: but within this wall, and on the very top of all, there ran

another wall of stone also, having, on the east quarter, a double

cloister, of the same length with the wall; in the midst of which was

the temple itself. This cloister looked to the gates of the temple; and

it had been adorned by many kings in former times; and round about the

entire temple were fixed the spoils taken from barbarous nations; all

these had been dedicated to the temple by Herod, with the addition of

those he had taken from the Arabians.

4. Now on the north side [of the temple] was built a citadel, whose

walls were square, and strong, and of extraordinary firmness. This

citadel was built by the kings of the Asamonean race, who were also high

priests before Herod, and they called it the Tower, in which were

reposited the vestments of the high priest, which the high priest only

put on at the time when he was to offer sacrifice. These vestments king

Herod kept in that place; and after his death they were under the power

of the Romans, until the time of Tiberius Cæsar; under whose reign

Vitellius, the president of Syria, when he once came to Jerusalem, and

had been most magnificently received by the multitude, he had a mind to

make them some requital for the kindness they had shewn him; so, upon

their petition to have those holy vestments in their own power, he wrote

about them to Tiberius Cæsar, who granted his request: and this their

power over the sacerdotal vestments continued with the Jews till the

death of king Agrippa; but after that, Cassius Longinus, who was

president of Syria, and Cuspius Fadus, who was procurator of Judea,

enjoined the Jews to reposit those vestments in the tower of Antonia,

for that they ought to have them in their power, as they formerly had.

However, the Jews sent ambassadors to Claudius Cæsar, to intercede with

him for them; upon whose coming, king Agrippa, junior, being then at

Rome, asked for and obtained the power over them from the emperor, who

gave command to Vitellius, who was then commander in Syria, to give it

them accordingly. Before that time they were kept under the seal of the

high priest, and of the treasurers of the temple; which treasurers, the

day before a festival, went up to the Roman captain of the temple

guards, and viewed their own seal, and received the vestments; and

again, when the festival was over, they brought it to the same place,

and showed the captain of the temple guards their seal, which

corresponded with his seal, and reposited them there. And that these

things were so, the afflictions that happened to us afterwards [about

them] are sufficient evidence. But for the tower itself, when Herod the

king of the Jews had fortified it more firmly than before, in order to

secure and guard the temple, he gratified Antonius, who was his friend,

and the Roman ruler, and then gave it the name of the Tower of Antonia.

5. Now in the western quarters of the enclosure of the temple there were

four gates; the first led to the king's palace, and went to a passage

over the intermediate valley; two more led to the suburbs of the city;

and the last led to the other city, where the road descended down into

the valley by a great number of steps, and thence up again by the ascent

for the city lay over against the temple in the manner of a theater, and

was encompassed with a deep valley along the entire south quarter; but

the fourth front of the temple, which was southward, had indeed itself

gates in its middle, as also it had the royal cloisters, with three

walks, which reached in length from the east valley unto that on the

west, for it was impossible it should reach any farther: and this

cloister deserves to be mentioned better than any other under the sun;

for while the valley was very deep, and its bottom could not be seen, if

you looked from above into the depth, this further vastly high elevation

of the cloister stood upon that height, insomuch that if any one looked

down from the top of the battlements, or down both those altitudes, he

would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense

depth. This cloister had pillars that stood in four rows one over

against the other all along, for the fourth row was interwoven into the

wall, which [also was built of stone]; and the thickness of each pillar

was such, that three men might, with their arms extended, fathom it

round, and join their hands again, while its length was twenty-seven

feet, with a double spiral at its basis; and the number of all the

pillars [in that court] was a hundred and sixty-two. Their chapiters

were made with sculptures after the Corinthian order, and caused an

amazement [to the spectators], by reason of the grandeur of the whole.

These four rows of pillars included three intervals for walking in the

middle of this cloister; two of which walks were made parallel to each

other, and were contrived after the same manner; the breadth of each of

them was thirty feet, the length was a furlong, and the height fifty

feet; but the breadth of the middle part of the cloister was one and a

half of the other, and the height was double, for it was much higher

than those on each side; but the roofs were adorned with deep sculptures

in wood, representing many sorts of figures. The middle was much higher

than the rest, and the wall of the front was adorned with beams, resting

upon pillars, that were interwoven into it, and that front was all of

polished stone, insomuch that its fineness, to such as had not seen it,

was incredible, and to such as had seen it, was greatly amazing. Thus

was the first enclosure. In the midst of which, and not far from it, was

the second, to be gone up to by a few steps: this was encompassed by a

stone wall for a partition, with an inscription, which forbade any

foreigner to go in under pain of death. Now this inner enclosure had on

its southern and northern quarters three gates [equally] distant one

from another; but on the east quarter, towards the sun-rising, there was

one large gate, through which such as were pure came in, together with

their wives; but the temple further inward in that gate was not allowed

to the women; but still more inward was there a third [court of the]

temple, whereinto it was not lawful for any but the priests alone to

enter. The temple itself was within this; and before that temple was the

altar, upon which we offer our sacrifices and burnt-offerings to God.

Into none of these three did king Herod enter, 24 for he was forbidden,

because he was not a priest. However, he took care of the cloisters and

the outer enclosures, and these he built in eight years.

6. But the temple itself was built by the priests in a year and six

months; upon which all the people were full of joy; and presently they

returned thanks, in the first place, to God; and in the next place, for

the alacrity the king had showed. They feasted and celebrated this

rebuilding of the temple: and for the king, he sacrificed three hundred

oxen to God, as did the rest every one according to his ability; the

number of which sacrifices is not possible to set down, for it cannot be

that we should truly relate it; for at the same time with this

celebration for the work about the temple fell also the day of the

king's inauguration, which he kept of an old custom as a festival, and

it now coincided with the other, which coincidence of them both made the

festival most illustrious.

7. There was also an occult passage built for the king; it led from

Antonia to the inner temple, at its eastern gate; over which he also

erected for himself a tower, that he might have the opportunity of a

subterraneous ascent to the temple, in order to guard against any

sedition which might be made by the people against their kings. It is

also reported, 25 that during the time that the temple was building, it

did not rain in the daytime, but that the showers fell in the nights, so

that the work was not hindered. And this our fathers have delivered to

us; nor is it incredible, if any one have regard to the manifestations

of God. And thus was performed the work of the rebuilding of the temple.

FOOTNOTES:

1 (return) [ The city here called "Babylon" by Josephus, seems to be one

which was built by some of the Seleucidae upon the Tigris, which long

after the utter desolation of old Babylon was commonly so called, and I

suppose not far from Seleueia; just as the latter adjoining city Bagdat

has been and is often called by the same old name of Babylon till this

very day.]

2 (return) [ Here we have an eminent example of Herod's worldly and

profane politics, when by the abuse of his unlawful and usurped power,

to make whom he pleased high priest, in the person of Ananelus, he

occasioned such disturbances in his kingdom, and in his own family, as

suffered him to enjoy no lasting peace or tranquillity ever afterward;

and such is frequently the effect of profane court politics about

matters of religion in other ages and nations. The Old Testament is full

of the miseries of the people of the Jews derived from such court

politics, especially in and after the days of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,

"who made Israel to sin;" who gave the most pernicious example of it;

who brought on the grossest corruption of religion by it; and the

punishment of whose family for it was most remarkable. The case is too

well known to stand in need of particular citations.]

3 (return) [ Of this wicked Dellius, see the note on the War, B. I. ch.

15. sect. 3.]

4 (return) [ When Josephus says here that this Ananelus, the new high

priest, was "of the stock of the high priests," and since he had been

just telling us that he was a priest of an obscure family or character,

ch. 2. sect. 4, it is not at all probable that he could so soon say that

he was "of the stock of the high priests." However, Josephus here makes

a remarkable observation, that this Ananelus was the third that was ever

unjustly and wickedly turned out of the high priesthood by the civil

power, no king or governor having ventured to do so, that Josephus knew

of, but that heathen tyrant and persecutor Antiochus Epiphanes; that

barbarous parricide Aristobulus, the first that took royal authority

among the Maccabees; and this tyrant king Herod the Great, although

afterward that infamous practice became frequent, till the very

destruction of Jerusalem, when the office of high priesthood was at an

end.]

5 (return) [ This entirely confutes the Talmudists, who pretend that no

one under twenty years of age could officiate as high priest among the

Jews.]

6 (return) [ A Hebrew chronicle, cited by Reland, says this drowning was

at Jordan, not at Jericho, and this even when he quote Josephus. I

suspect the transcriber of the Hebrew chronicle mistook the name, and

wrote Jordan for Jericho.]

7 (return) [ The reading of one of Josephus's Greek MSS. seems here to

be right, that Aristobulus was "not eighteen years old" when he was

drowned, for he was not seventeen when he was made high priest, ch. 2.

sect. 6, ch. 3. sect. 3, and he continued in that office but one year,

as in the place before us.]

8 (return) [ The reader is here to take notice, that this seventh year

of the reign of Herod, and all the other years of his reign, in

Josephus, are dated from the death of Antigonus, or at the soonest from

the conclusion of Antigonus, and the taking of Jerusalem a few months

before, and never from his first obtaining the kingdom at Rome, above

three years before, as some have very weakly and injudiciously done.]

9 (return) [ Herod says here, that as ambassadors were sacred when they

carried messages to others, so did the laws of the Jews derive a sacred

authority by being delivered from God by angels, [or Divine

ambassadors,] which is St. Paul's expression about the same laws,

Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2;2.]

10 (return) [ This piece of religion, the supplicating God with

sacrifices, by Herod, before he went to this fight with the Arabians,

taken notice of also in the first book of the War, ch. 19. sect. 5, is

worth remarking, because it is the only example of this nature, so far

as I remember, that Josephus ever mentions in all his large and

particular accounts of this Herod; and it was when he had been in mighty

distress, and discouraged by a great defeat of his former army, and by a

very great earthquake in Judea, such times of affliction making men most

religious; nor was he disappointed of his hopes here, but immediately

gained a most signal victory over the Arabians, while they who just

before had been so great victors, and so much elevated upon the

earthquake in Judea as to venture to slay the Jewish ambassadors, were

now under a strange consternation, and hardly able to fight at all.]

11 (return) [ Whereas Mariamne is here represented as reproaching: Herod

with the murder of her father [Alexander], as well as her brother

[Aristobulus], while it was her grandfather Hyrcanus, and not her father

Alexander, whom he caused to be slain, [as Josephus himself informs us,

ch. 6. sect. 2,] we must either take Zonaras's reading, which is here

grandfather, rightly, or else we must, as before, ch. 1. sect. 1, allow

a slip of Josephus's pen or memory in the place before us.]

12 (return) [ Here is a plain example of a Jewish lady giving a bill of

divorce to her husband, though in the days of Josephus it was not

esteemed lawful for a woman so to do. See the like among the Parthians,

Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 9. sect. 6. However, the Christian law, when it

allowed divorce for adultery, Matthew 5:32, allowed the innocent wife to

divorce her guilty husband, as well as the innocent husband to divorce

his guilty wife, as we learn from the shepherd of Hermas, Mand. B. IV.,

and from: the second apology of Justin Martyr, where a persecution was

brought upon the Christians upon such a divorce; and I think the Roman

laws permitted it at that time, as well as the laws of Christianity. Now

this Babas, who was one of the race of the Asamoneans or Maccabees, as

the latter end of this section informs us, is related by the Jews, as

Dr. Hudson here remarks, to have been so eminently religious in the

Jewish way, that, except the day following the tenth of Tisri, the great

day of atonement, when he seems to have supposed all his sins entirely

forgiven, he used every day of the whole year to offer a sacrifice for

his sins of ignorance, or such as he supposed he had been guilty of, but

did not distinctly remember. See somewhat like it of Agrippa the Great,

Antiq. B. XIX. ch. 3. sect. 3, and Job 1:4, 5.]

13 (return) [ These grand plays, and shows, and Thymelici, or music

meetings, and chariot races, when the chariots were drawn by two, three,

or four pair of horses, etc., instituted by Herod in his theatres, were

still, as we see here, looked on by the sober Jews as heathenish sports,

and tending to corrupt the manners of the Jewish nation, and to bring

them in love with paganish idolatry, and paganish conduct of life, but

to the dissolution of the law of Moses, and accordingly were greatly and

justly condemned by them, as appears here and every where else in

Josephus. Nor is the case of our modern masquerades, plays, operas, and

the like "pomps and vanities of this wicked world," of any better

tendency under Christianity.]

14 (return) [ Here we have an eminent example of the language of

Josephus in his writing to Gentiles, different from that when he wrote

to Jews; in his writing to whom he still derives all such judgments from

the anger of God; but because he knew many of the Gentiles thought they

might naturally come in certain periods, he complies with them in the

following sentence. See the note on the War. B. I. ch. 33. sect. 2.]

15 (return) [ This famine for two years that affected Judea and Syria,

the thirteenth mid fourteenth years of Herod, which are the twenty-third

and twenty-fourth years before the Christian era, seems to have been

more terrible during this time than was that in the days of Jacob,

Genesis 41., 42. And what makes the comparison the more remarkable is

this, that now, as well as then, the relief they had was from Egypt

also; then from Joseph the governor of Egypt, under Pharaoh king of

Egypt; and now from Petronius the prefect of Egypt, under Augustus the

Roman emperor. See almost the like case, Antiq. B. XX. ch. 2. sect. 6.

It is also well worth our observation here, that these two years were a

Sabbatic year, and a year of jubilee, for which Providence, during the

theocracy, used to provide a triple crop beforehand; but became now,

when the Jews had forfeited that blessing, the greatest years of famine

to them ever since the days of Ahab, 1 Kings 17., 18.]

16 (return) [ This Aelius Gallus seems to be no other than that Aelius

Lagus whom Dio speaks of as conducting an expedition that was about this

time made into Arabia Felix, according to Betarius, who is here cited by

Spanheim. See a full account of this expedition in Prideaux, at the

years 23 and 24.]

17 (return) [ One may here take notice, that how tyrannical and

extravagant soever Herod were in himself, and in his Grecian cities, as

to those plays, and shows, and temples for idolatry, mentioned above,

ch. 8. sect. 1, and here also; yet durst even he introduce very few of

them into the cities of the Jews, who, as Josephus here notes, would not

even then have borne them, so zealous were they still for many of the

laws of Moses, even under so tyrannical a government as this was of

Herod the Great; which tyrannical government puts me naturally in mind

of Dean Prideaux's honest reflection upon the like ambition after such

tyrannical power in Pompey and Cæsar: "One of these [says he, at the

year 60: could not bear an equal, nor the other a superior; and through

this ambitions humor and thirst after more power in these two men, the

whole Roman empire being divided into two opposite factions, there was

produced hereby the most destructive war that ever afflicted it; and the

like folly too much reigns in all other places. Could about thirty men

be persuaded to live at home in peace, without enterprising upon the

rights of each other, for the vain glory of conquest, and the

enlargement of power, the whole world might be at quiet; but their

ambition, their follies, and their humor, leading them constantly to

encroach upon and quarrel with each other, they involve all that are

under them in the mischiefs thereof; and many thousands are they which

yearly perish by it; so that it may almost raise a doubt, whether the

benefit which the world receives from government be sufficient to make

amends for the calamities which it suffers from the follies, mistakes,

and real-administrations of those that manage it."]

18 (return) [ Cæsarea being here said to be rebuilt and adorned in

twelve years, and soon afterwards in ten years, Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 5.

sect. 1, there must be a mistake in one of the places as to the true

number, but in which of them it is hard positively to determine.]

19 (return) [ This Pollio, with whom Herod's sons lived at Rome, was not

Pollio the Pharisee, already mentioned by Josephus, ch. 1. sect. 1, and

again presently after this, ch. 10. sect. 4; but Asinine Pollo, the

Roman, as Spanheim here observes.]

20 (return) [ The character of this Zenodorus is so like that of a

famous robber of the same name in Strabo, and that about this very

country, and about this very time also, that I think Dr. Hudson hardly

needed to have put a overlaps to his determination that they were the

same.]

21 (return) [ A tetrarchy properly and originally denoted the fourth

part of an entire kingdom or country, and a tetrarch one that was ruler

of such a fourth part, which always implies somewhat less extent of

dominion and power than belong to a kingdom and to a king.]

22 (return) [ We may here observe, that the fancy of the modern Jews, in

calling this temple, which was really the third of their temples, the

second temple, followed so long by later Christians, seems to be without

any solid foundation. The reason why the Christians here followed the

Jews is, because of the prophecy of Haggai, 2:6-9, which they expound of

the Messiah's coning to the second or Zorobabel's temple, of which they

suppose this of Herod to be only a continuation; which is meant, I

think, of his coming to the fourth and last temple, of that future,

largest, and most glorious one, described by Ezekiel; whence I take the

former notion, how general soever, to be a great mistake. See Lit.

Accorap. of Proph. p. 2.]

23 (return) [ Some of our modern students in architecture have made a

strange blunder here, when they imagine that Josephus affirms the entire

foundations of the temple or holy house sunk down into the rocky

mountain on which it stood no less than twenty cubits, whereas he is

clear that they were the foundations of the additional twenty cubits

only above the hundred [made perhaps weak on purpose, and only for show

and grandeur] that sunk or fell down, as Dr. Hudson rightly understands

him; nor is the thing itself possible in the other sense. Agrippa's

preparation for building the inner parts of the temple twenty cubits

higher [History of the War, B. V. ch. 1. sect. 5: must in all

probability refer to this matter, since Josephus says here, that this

which had fallen down was designed to be raised up again under Nero,

under whom Agrippa made that preparation. But what Josephus says

presently, that Solomon was the first king of the Jews, appears by the

parallel place, Antiq. B. XX. ch. 9. sect. 7, and other places, to be

meant only the first of David's posterity, and the first builder of the

temple.]

24 (return) [ "Into none Of these three did king Herod enter," i.e. 1.

Not into the court of the priests; 2. Nor into the holy house itself; 3.

Nor into the separate place belonging to the altar, as the words

following imply; for none but priests, or their attendants the Levites,

might come into any of them. See Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 4. sect. 6, when

Herod goes into the temple, and makes a speech in it to the people, but

that could only be into the court of Israel, whither the people could

come to hear him.]

25 (return) [ This tradition which Josephus here mentions, as delivered

down from fathers to their children, of this particular remarkable

circumstance relating to the building of Herod's temple, is a

demonstration that such its building was a known thing in Judea at this

time. He was born about forty-six years after it is related to have been

finished, and might himself have seen and spoken with some of the

builders themselves, and with a great number of those that had seen it

building. The doubt therefore about the truth of this history of the

pulling down and rebuilding this temple by Herod, which some weak people

have indulged, was not then much greater than it soon may be, whether or

not our St. Paul's church in London was burnt down in the fire of

London, A.D. 1666, and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren a little

afterward.]

BOOK XVI. Containing The Interval Of Twelve Years.—From The Finishing Of

The Temple By Herod To The Death Of Alexander And Aristobulus.

CHAPTER 1. A Law Of Herod's About, Thieves. Salome And Pheroras

Calumniate Alexander And Aristobulus, Upon Their Return From Rome For

Whom Yet Herod Provides Wives.

1. 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,

no way like our original laws, and which he enacted of himself, to

expose house-breakers 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 offense 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 restore fourfold; and that if he have not so much, he shall

be sold indeed, but not to foreigners, nor so that he be under perpetual

slavery, for he must have been released after six years. But this law,

thus enacted, in order to introduce a severe and illegal punishment,

seemed to be a piece of insolence of Herod, when he did not act as a

king, but as a tyrant, and thus contemptuously, and without any regard

to his subjects, did he 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.

2. Now at this time it was that he sailed to Italy, as very desirous to

meet with Cæsar, and to see his sons who lived at Rome; and Cæsar 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 having 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

became 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 converse 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 present 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, even in length of time, was not able to

overcome; yet was the king at that time in a condition to prefer the

natural affection 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 Cappadocia.

CHAPTER 2. How Herod Twice Sailed To Agrippa; And How Upon The Complaint

In Ionia Against The Greeks Agrippa Confirmed The Laws To Them.

1. 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 new-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

Cæsarea, 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 willingly have staid longer, but that the

season of the year made him make 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.

2. So Agrippa went away, when Herod had bestowed on him, and on the

principal of those that were with him, many presents; but king Herod,

when he had passed the winter in his own dominions, made haste to get to

him again in the spring, when he knew he designed to go to 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 was fallen

down, which as it was overthrown in the Mithridatic war, and was 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 ornaments. And when the high

winds were laid, he sailed to Mytilene, and thence to Byzantium; and

when he heard that Agrippa was 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 ship-men 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

towards him possible, since the king had come so long a voyage, and at a

very proper season, for his assistance, and had left the government 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 companion for him when

he relaxed himself, and a joint partaker with him in all things; ill

troubles because of his kindness, 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 traveled 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 those that wanted either money or kind

treatment, he 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 favor, 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 reconciliation

between the people of Ilium, at whom he was angry, and paid what money

the people of Chius owed Cæsar's procurators, and discharged them of

their tributes; and helped all others, according as their several

necessities required.

3. 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 law-suits, by the ill

usage 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 the Romans, who had

still permitted them to live according to their own laws. When this

clamor 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 approach you

with great assurance; for as they have formerly often obtained your

favor, 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 favors you

have already granted them may not be taken away from them. We have

received these favors 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 favors, it is to our commendation who have

obtained them, as having been found deserving of such great favors; and

if those favors be but small ones, it would be 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 celebrated 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 endeavor to

compel others to comply with them, as if it were not as great an

instance of impiety profanely to dissolve the religious solemnities of

any others, as to be negligent in the observation of their own towards

their gods. And let us now consider 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 desire to make void the favors they have granted? No

one is certainly so mad; for there are no men but such as have been

partakers of their favors, both public and private; and indeed those

that take away what you have granted, can have no assurance but every

one of their own grants made them by you may be taken from them also;

which grants of yours can yet never be sufficiently valued; for if they

consider the old governments under kings, together with your present

government, 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 circumstances, are not such as deserve to be envied, 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 Divinity delights in being honored, it must

delight in those that permit them to be honored. And there are none of

our customs which are inhuman, but all tending to piety, and devoted to

the preservation 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

labor; it is dedicated to the learning of our customs and laws, 1 we

thinking it proper to reflect on them, as well as on any [good] thing

else, in order to our avoiding of sin. If any one therefore examine into

our observances, he will find they are good in themselves, and that they

are ancient also, though some think otherwise, insomuch that those who

have received them cannot easily be brought to depart from them, out of

that honor 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 violently seize upon that money of

ours which is owed to God, and called sacred money, and this openly,

after a sacrilegious manner; 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 on 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 abolishing 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 hindered from making use of our

own customs, 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 senate, 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 towards 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 advantages than they could have hoped for, and thereby

your government is become a great 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; and indeed in what instance

of good-will, as to your house, hath he been deficient? What mark of

fidelity to it hath he omitted? What token of honor hath he not devised?

What occasion for his assistance of you hath he not regarded at the very

first? What hindereth; 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 valor of his father

Antipater, who, when Cæsar made an expedition into Egypt, assisted him

with two thousand armed men, and proved inferior to none, neither in the

battles on land, nor in the management of the navy; and what need I say

any thing of how great weight those soldiers were at that juncture? or

how many and how great presents they were vouchsafed by Cæsar? And truly

I ought before now to have mentioned the epistles which Cæsar wrote to

the senate; and how Antipater had honors, and the freedom of the city of

Rome, bestowed upon him; for these are demonstrations both that we have

received these favors by our own deserts, and do on that account

petition thee for thy confirmation of them, from whom we had reason to

hope for them, though they had not been given us before, both out of

regard to our king's disposition towards you, and your disposition

towards him. And further, we have been informed by those Jews that were

there with what kindness thou camest into our country, and how thou

offeredst the most perfect sacrifices to God, and honoredst him with

remarkable vows, and how thou gavest the people a feast, and acceptedst

of their own hospitable presents to thee. We ought to esteem all these

kind entertainments made both by our nation and to 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 returned 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."

4. 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 an intercession to prevent violence to be offered to the

Jews any longer; nor did the Greeks make any defense of themselves, or

deny what it was supposed they had done. Their pretense 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 demonstrated

their generosity in this, that though they worshipped according to their

institutions, they did nothing that ought to grieve them. So when

Agrippa perceived that they had been oppressed by violence, he made this

answer: That, on account of Herod's good-will and friendship, he was

ready to grant the Jews whatsoever they should ask him, and that their

requests seemed to him in themselves just; and that if they requested

any thing further, he should not scruple to grant it them, provided they

were no way 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 disposition he showed to them.

Agrippa also took this in a very obliging manner, and saluted him again,

and 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

Cæsarea in a few days' time, as having favorable winds; from whence he

went to Jerusalem, and there gathered all the people together to an

assembly, not a few being there out of the country also. So he came to

them, and gave them a particular account of all his journey, and of the

affairs of all the Jews in Asia, how by his means they would live

without injurious treatment for the time to come. He also told them of

the entire good fortune he had met with and how he had administered the

government, and had not neglected any thing which was for their

advantage; and as he was very joyful, he now remitted to them the fourth

part of their taxes for the last year. Accordingly, they were so pleased

with his favor and speech to them, that they went their ways with great

gladness, and wished the king all manner of happiness.

CHAPTER 3

How Great Disturbances Arose In Herods Family On His Preferring

Antipater His Eldest Son Before The Rest, Till Alexander Took That

Injury Very Heinously.

1. 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 descended as it were by

inheritance [from their mother Mariamne]; and as she had fully succeeded

against their mother, so she proceeded to that degree of madness and

insolence, as to endeavor that none of her posterity might be left

alive, who might have it in their power to revenge her death. The young

men had also somewhat of a bold and uneasy disposition towards their

father occasioned by the remembrance of what their mother had unjustly

suffered, and by their own affectation of dominion. The old grudge was

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 subtle 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 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 contrivance 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 who were so deeply affected with

the death of their mother, that while they said both she and themselves

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 pitiable case also, because they were forced to live with those that

had been her murderers, and to be partakers with them.

2. These disorders increased greatly, and the king's absence abroad had

afforded a fit opportunity for that increase; but as soon as Herod was

returned, and had made the forementioned speech to the multitude,

Pheroras and Salome let fill words immediately as if he were in great

danger, and as if the young 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 fixed on

Archelaus, the king of Cappadocia, that they should be able by his means

to come to Cæsar, 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 disorders 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; and

suspecting 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 misfortunes at home, or whether he

ought not to have chosen to avoid the calamities relating to his family,

though he had, for a compensation, never been possessed of the admired

grandeur of a kingdom.

3. As he was thus disturbed and afflicted, in order to depress these

young 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 afterwards, when he was quite overcome by him, and

let him do every thing as he pleased, but rather with a design of

depressing the insolence of the sons of Mariamne, and managing this

elevation of his so, that it might be for a warning to them; for this

bold behavior of theirs [he thought] would not be so great, if they were

once persuaded that the succession 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 made a good

provision for discouraging 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 degree of

freedom, and began to expect greater things than he had before hoped

for, he had but one single design in his 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. Accordingly, all the

reports that were spread abroad came from him, while he avoided himself

the suspicion as if those discoveries 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 friendship with Antipater, 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

with these joint accusations, which from various foundations supported

one another's veracity, the young men themselves afforded further

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, increased the

disorder 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

sons of Mariamne, and was desirous to humble them, he still increased

the honor 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 frequently to Cæsar in favor of him, and more earnestly

recommended him to his care particularly. And when Agrippa was returning

to Rome, after he had finished his ten years' government in Asia. 2

Herod sailed from Judea; and when he met with him, he had none with him

but Antipater, whom he delivered to Agrippa, that he might take him

along with him, together with many presents, that so he might become

Cæsar's friend, insomuch that things already looked as if he had all his

father's favor, and that the young men were already entirely rejected

from any hopes of the kingdom.

CHAPTER 4. How During Antipater's Abode At Rome, Herod Brought Alexander

And Aristobulus Before Cæsar And Accused Them. Alexander's Defense Of

Himself Before Cæsar And Reconciliation To His Father.

1. And now what happened during Antipater's absence augmented the honor

to which he had been promoted, and his apparent eminence above his

brethren; for he had made a great figure in Rome, 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 favorable 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

pretense indeed of a deep concern for his preservation, 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 anger in Herod, that he was

already become very ill-disposed towards the young men; but still while

he delayed to exercise so violent a disgust against them, and that he

might not either be too remiss or too rash, and so offend, he thought it

best to sail to Rome, and there accuse his sons before Cæsar, and not

indulge himself in any such crime as might be heinous enough to be

suspected of impiety. But as he was going up to Rome, it happened that

he made such haste as to meet with Cæsar at the city Aquilei 3 so when

he came to the speech of Cæsar, 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 endeavors to show their hatred to their

own father, and would take away his life, and so obtain his kingdom,

after the most barbarous manner: that he had power from Cæsar to dispose

of it, not by necessity, but by choice, to him who shall exercise the

greatest piety towards him; while these my sons are not so desirous of

ruling, as they are, upon a disappointment thereof, to expose their own

life, if so be they may but deprive their father of his life; so wild

and polluted is 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 Cæsar, and to pollute his ears with such

language, while he himself wants to know what severity they have ever

suffered from him, or what hardships he hath ever laid upon them to make

them complain of him; and how they can think it just that he should not

be lord of that kingdom which he in a long time, and with great danger,

had gained, and not allow him to keep it and dispose of it to him who

should deserve best; and this, with other advantages, he proposes as a

reward for the piety of such a one as will hereafter imitate the care he

hath taken of it, and that such a 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 in his view, at the

same time reckons upon procuring the death of his father, because

otherwise he cannot come at the government: that as for himself, he had

hitherto given them all that he was able, and what was agreeable to such

as are subject to the royal authority, and the sons of a king; what

ornaments they wanted, with servants and delicate fare, and had married

them into the most illustrious families, the one [Aristobulus] to his

sister's daughter, but Alexander to the daughter of king Archelaus; and,

what was the greatest favor of all, when their crimes were so very bad,

and he had authority to punish them, yet had he not made use of it

against them, but had brought them before Cæsar, their common

benefactor, and had not used the severity which, either as a father who

had been impiously abused, or as a king who had been assaulted

treacherously, he might have done, but made them stand upon a level with

him in judgment: that, however, 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 advantage to see the light of

the sun after what they have done, although they should escape at this

time, since they had done the vilest things, and would certainly suffer

the greatest punishments that ever were known among mankind.

2. These were the accusations which Herod laid with great vehemency

against his sons before Cæsar. Now the young men, both while he was

speaking, and chiefly at his concluding, wept, and were in confusion.

Now as to themselves, they knew in their own conscience they were

innocent; 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 length

a deep groan, followed, while they were afraid, that if they said

nothing, they should seem to be in this difficulty from a consciousness

of guilt,—nor had they any defense ready, by reason of their youth, and

the disorder they were under; yet was not Cæsar unapprized, when he

looked upon them in the confusion they were in, that their delay to make

their defense did not arise from any consciousness of great enormities,

but from their unskilfulness and modesty. They were also commiserated by

those that were there in particular; and they moved their father's

affections in earnest till he had much ado to conceal them.

3. But when they saw there was a kind disposition arisen both in him and

in Cæsar, and that every one of the rest did either shed tears, or at

least did all grieve with them, the one of them, whose name was

Alexander, called to his father, and attempted to answer his accusation,

and said, "O father, the benevolence thou hast showed to us is evident,

even in this very judicial procedure, for hadst thou had any pernicious

intentions about us, thou hadst not produced us here before the common

savior of all, for it was in thy power, both as a king and as a father,

to punish the guilty; but by thus bringing us to Rome, and making Cæsar

himself a witness to what is done, thou intimatest that thou intendest

to save us; for no one that hath a design to slay a man will bring him

to the temples, and to the altars; yet are our circumstances still

worse, for we cannot endure to live ourselves any longer, if it be

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 defense 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 calumny so prevails, it is

more than enough for us that we have seen the sun this day; which why

should we see, if this suspicion be fixed upon us? Now it is easy to say

of young men, that they desire 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 intending 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 use to be made credible? Can any body prove that poison hath

been prepared? or prove a conspiracy of our equals, or the corruption of

servants, or letters written against thee? though indeed there are none

of those things but 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 no reason so to do. Are we desirous of that dominion which we know

our father is possessed of? For what reason can we do so? If we already

have royal honors, as we have, should not we labor in vain? And if we

have them not, yet are not we in hopes of them? Or supposing that we had

killed thee, could we expect to obtain thy kingdom? while neither the

earth would let us tread upon it, nor the sea let us sail upon it, after

such an action as that; nay, the religion of all your subjects, and the

piety of the whole nation, would have prohibited parricides from

assuming the government, and from entering into that most holy temple

which was built by thee 4 But suppose we had made light of other

dangers, can any murderer go off unpunished while Cæsar is alive? We are

thy sons, and not so impious or so thoughtless as that comes to, though

perhaps more unfortunate than is convenient for thee. But in case thou

neither findest any causes of complaint, nor any treacherous designs,

what sufficient 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 Cæsar, the lord of all, who is now a mediator

between us, If thou, O 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 own conduct; our life is not so desirable

to us as to desire to have it, if it tend to the harm of our father who

gave it us."

4. When Alexander had thus spoken, Cæsar, who did not before 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 commiseration of the flower of youth, the beauty of

body, which were in the young men, pleaded for assistance, and the more

so on this account, that Alexander had made their defense with dexterity

and prudence; nay, they did not themselves any longer continue in their

former countenances, which had been bedewed with tears, and cast

downwards 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 correct

them. Indeed he wanted some apology for making the accusation; but

Cæsar, 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 towards

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 still heal those breaches that had

happened between them, and might improve that their good-will to one

another, whereby those on both sides, excusing the rashness of their

suspicions, might resolve to bear a greater degree of affection towards

each other than they had before. After Cæsar had given them this

admonition, he beckoned to the young men. When therefore they were

disposed to fall down to make intercession to their father, he took them

up, and embraced them, as they were in tears, and took each of them

distinctly in his arms, till not one of those that were present, whether

free-man or slave, but was deeply affected with what they saw. 5

5. Then did they return thanks to Cæsar, and went away together; and

with them went Antipater, with an hypocritical pretense that he rejoiced

at this reconciliation. And in the last days they were with Cæsar, Herod

made him a present of three hundred talents, as he was then exhibiting

shows and largesses to the people of Rome; and Cæsar 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 honored him with other gifts and

incomes; and as to his own kingdom, he left it in his own 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,

Cæsar said he would not give him leave to deprive himself, while he was

alive, of the power over his kingdom, or over his sons.

6. After this, Herod returned to Judea again. But during his absence no

small part of his dominion about Trachon had revolted, whom yet the

commanders he left there had vanquished, and compelled to a submission

again. Now as Herod was sailing with his sons, and was come over against

Cilicia, to [the island] Eleusa, which hath now changed its name for

Sebaste, 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 Alexander, 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 Cæsar'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 admonition 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 regard

to himself, and esteem him 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 skillful in governing; and that he was not deficient in other arts

of management that might enable him to govern the kingdom well, and to

rule over his children also. He further told the rulers under him, and

the 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 5. How Herod Celebrated The Games That Were To Return Every

Fifth Year Upon The Building Of Cæsarea; And How He Built And Adorned

Many Other Places After A Magnificent Manner; And Did Many Other Actions

Gloriously

1. About this time it was that Cæsarea 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 hundred and ninety-second olympiad. There was accordingly a

great festival and most sumptuous preparations made presently, 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 fight 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

Cæsar, 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 decent; nay, Julia, Cæsar'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 five hundred

talents. Now when a great multitude was come to that city to see the

shows, as well as the ambassadors 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 meetings as cost vast sums of money, and

publicly demonstrated the generosity of his soul; for in all his

undertakings he was ambitious to exhibit what exceeded whatsoever had

been done before of the same kind. And it is related that Cæsar and

Agrippa often said, that the dominions of Herod were too little for the

greatness of his soul; for that he deserved to have both all the kingdom

of Syria, and that of Egypt also.

2. 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 Antipatris, 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 Cypros. He also dedicated the finest monuments 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 defenses of the city, and a memorial for him that was

deceased, because it bare his name. He also built a city of the same

name in the valley of Jericho, as you go from it northward, whereby he

rendered the neighboring country more fruitful by the cultivation its

inhabitants introduced; and this also he called Phasaelus.

3. But as for his other benefits, it is impossible 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 expenses, and gave them a great number of talents of silver

for the repair of their fleet. He also built the greatest part of the

public edifices for the inhabitants of Nicopolis, at Actium; 6 and for

the Antiochinus, the inhabitants of the principal city of Syria, where a

broad street cuts through the place lengthways, he built cloisters along

it on both sides, and laid the open road with polished stone, and 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.

4. 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 possibility

for even those that had the least respect for him to deny, or not openly

to confess, that he had a nature vastly beneficent; 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 nature to be different, and sometimes at contradiction

with itself; but I am myself of another opinion, and imagine that the

occasion of both these sort of actions was one and the same; for being a

man ambitious of honor, and quite overcome by that passion, he was

induced to be magnificent, wherever there appeared any hopes of a future

memorial, or of reputation at present; and as his expenses were beyond

his abilities, he was necessitated to be harsh to his subjects; for the

persons 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 under him, for the injuries he did them, he thought it not an

easy thing to amend his offenses, for that it 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

government, 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 undertook out of a desire that he might be himself alone

honored. Now for this, my assertion about that passion of his, we have

the greatest evidence, by what he did to honor Cæsar and Agrippa, and

his other friends; for with what honors 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

accustomed to prefer righteousness to glory; for which reason that

nation was not agreeable to him, because it was out of their power to

flatter the king's ambition with statues or temples, or any other such

performances; And this seems to me to have been at once the occasion of

Herod's crimes as to his own courtiers and counselors, and of his

benefactions as to foreigners and those that had no relation to him.

CHAPTER 6. An Embassage In Cyrene And Asia To Cæsar, Concerning The

Complaints They Had To Make Against The Greeks; With Copies Of The

Epistles Which Cæsar And Agrippa Wrote To The Cities For Them.

1. Now the cities ill-treated the Jews in Asia, and all those also of

the same nation which lived in Libya, which joins to Cyrene, while the

former kings had given them equal privileges with the other citizens;

but the Greeks affronted them at this time, and that so far as to take

away their sacred money, and to do them mischief on other particular

occasions. When therefore they were thus afflicted, and found no end of

their barbarous treatment they met with among the Greeks, they sent

ambassadors to Cæsar on those accounts, who gave them the same

privileges 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 ancient favorable disposition the Roman emperors had

towards us.

2. "Cæsar Augustus, high priest and tribune of the people, ordains thus:

Since the nation of the Jews hath been found grateful to the Roman

people, not only at this time, but in time past also, and chiefly

Hyrcanus the high priest, under my father 7 Cæsar the emperor, it seemed

good to me and my counselors, 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 law of their forefathers, as they made use of

them under Hyrcanus the high priest of the 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. 8 But if any one 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 sacrilegious

person, and his goods shall be brought into the public treasury of the

Romans. And I give order that the testimonial 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, together 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

transgress any part of what is above decreed, he shall be severely

punished." This was inscribed upon a pillar in the temple of Cæsar.

3. "Cæsar to Norbanus Flaccus, sendeth greeting. Let those Jews, how

many soever they be, who have been used, according to their ancient

custom, to send their sacred money to Jerusalem, do the same freely."

These were the decrees of Cæsar.

4. Agrippa also did himself write after the manner following, on behalf

of the Jews: "Agrippa, to the magistrates, senate, and people of the

Ephesians, sendeth greeting. I will that the care and custody of the

sacred money that is carried to the 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 thence. I have also written to Sylvanus

the praetor, that no one compel the Jews to come before a judge on the

sabbath day."

5. "Marcus Agrippa to the magistrates, senate, and people of Cyrene,

sendeth greeting. The Jews of Cyrene have interceded with me for the

performance of what Augustus 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, and under pretense 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 money

in the cities be taken from their proper receivers, I further enjoin,

that the same be exactly returned to the Jews in that place."

6. "Caius Norbanus Flaccus, proconsul, to the magistrates of the

Sardians, sendeth greeting. Cæsar 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 Cæsar and I would have you act accordingly."

7. Nor did Julius Antonius, the proconsul, write otherwise. "To the

magistrates, senate, and people of the Ephesians, sendeth greeting. As I

was dispensing justice at Ephesus, on the Ides of February, the Jews

that dwell in Asia demonstrated to me that Augustus 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, and to carry them in a company together to

Jerusalem without disturbance. They also petitioned me that I also would

confirm what had been granted by Augustus and Agrippa by my own

sanction. I would therefore have you take notice, that according to the

will of Augustus and Agrippa, I permit them to use and do according to

the customs of their forefathers without disturbance."

8. I have been obliged to set down these decree because the present

history of our own acts will go generally among the Greeks; and I have

hereby demonstrated to them that we have formerly been in great esteem,

and have not been prohibited by those governors we were under from

keeping any of the laws of our forefathers; nay, that we have been

supported 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 9 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 reason 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 probity, for this

belongs to all men in common, and of itself alone is sufficient for the

preservation of human life. I now return to the thread of my history.

CHAPTER 7. How, Upon Herod's Going Down Into David's Sepulcher, The

Sedition In His Family Greatly Increased.

1. 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 Hyrcanus,

who had been king before him, had opened David's sepulcher, and taken

out of it three thousand 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 intention to make the attempt; and at this time

he opened that sepulcher by night, and went into it, and endeavored that

it should not be at all known in the city, 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 farther 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 monument

of that fright he had been in; and this of white stone, at the mouth of

the sepulcher, and that at great expense also. And even Nicolaus 10 his

historiographer makes mention of this monument built by Herod, though he

does not mention his going down into the sepulcher, 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 colors on the death of Mariamne and her sons,

which were barbarous actions in the king, he tells falsehoods about the

incontinence 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 honorable place, which is

the priesthood, 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 manner. And although we reverence 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 we incur

their displeasure by so doing.

2. And indeed Herod's troubles in his family seemed to be augmented by

reason of this attempt he made upon David's sepulcher; whether Divine

vengeance increased the calamities he lay under, in order to render 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 impiety; for the tumult was like a

civil war in his palace, and their hatred towards one another was like

that where each one strove to exceed another in calumnies. However,

Antipater used stratagems perpetually 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 this 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 all that 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 they

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 dishonorable rank, who yet by birth

were the most noble, they could not bear the dishonor. 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 somewhat insolently towards Salome's daughter,

who was the wife of Aristobulus, which equality of hers to herself

Glaphyra took very impatiently.