How Aristobulus Was The First That Put A Diadem About His
Head; And After He Had Put His Mother And Brother To Death,
Died Himself, When He Had Reigned No More Than A Year.
1. For after the death of their father, the elder of them, Aristobulus,
changed the government into a kingdom, and was the first that put a
diadem upon his head, four hundred seventy and one years and three
months after our people came down into this country, when they were set
free from the Babylonian slavery. Now, of his brethren, he appeared to
have an affection for Antigonus, who was next to him, and made him his
equal; but for the rest, he bound them, and put them in prison. He also
put his mother in bonds, for her contesting the government with him;
for John had left her to be the governess of public affairs. He also
proceeded to that degree of barbarity as to cause her to be pined to
death in prison.
2. But vengeance circumvented him in the affair of his brother
Antigonus, whom he loved, and whom he made his partner in the kingdom;
for he slew him by the means of the calumnies which ill men about the
palace contrived against him. At first, indeed, Aristobulus would
not believe their reports, partly out of the affection he had for his
brother, and partly because he thought that a great part of these tales
were owing to the envy of their relaters: however, as Antigonus came
once in a splendid manner from the army to that festival, wherein our
ancient custom is to make tabernacles for God, it happened, in those
days, that Aristobulus was sick, and that, at the conclusion of the
feast, Antigonus came up to it, with his armed men about him; and this
when he was adorned in the finest manner possible; and that, in a great
measure, to pray to God on the behalf of his brother. Now at this very
time it was that these ill men came to the king, and told him in what
a pompous manner the armed men came, and with what insolence Antigonus
marched, and that such his insolence was too great for a private person,
and that accordingly he was come with a great band of men to kill him;
for that he could not endure this bare enjoyment of royal honor, when it
was in his power to take the kingdom himself.
3. Now Aristobulus, by degrees, and unwillingly, gave credit to these
accusations; and accordingly he took care not to discover his suspicion
openly, though he provided to be secure against any accidents; so he
placed the guards of his body in a certain dark subterranean passage;
for he lay sick in a place called formerly the Citadel, though
afterwards its name was changed to Antonia; and he gave orders that if
Antigonus came unarmed, they should let him alone; but if he came to him
in his armor, they should kill him. He also sent some to let him know
beforehand that he should come unarmed. But, upon this occasion, the
queen very cunningly contrived the matter with those that plotted his
ruin, for she persuaded those that were sent to conceal the king's
message; but to tell Antigonus how his brother had heard he had got a
very the suit of armor made with fine martial ornaments, in Galilee;
and because his present sickness hindered him from coming and seeing all
that finery, he very much desired to see him now in his armor; because,
said he, in a little time thou art going away from me.
4. As soon as Antigonus heard this, the good temper of his brother not
allowing him to suspect any harm from him, he came along with his armor
on, to show it to his brother; but when he was going along that dark
passage which was called Strato's Tower, he was slain by the body
guards, and became an eminent instance how calumny destroys all
good-will and natural affection, and how none of our good affections are
strong enough to resist envy perpetually.
5. And truly any one would be surprised at Judas upon this occasion. He
was of the sect of the Essens, and had never failed or deceived men in
his predictions before. Now this man saw Antigonus as he was passing
along by the temple, and cried out to his acquaintance, [they were not a
few who attended upon him as his scholars,] "O strange!" said he, "it is
good for me to die now, since truth is dead before me, and somewhat that
I have foretold hath proved false; for this Antigonus is this day alive,
who ought to have died this day; and the place where he ought to be
slain, according to that fatal decree, was Strato's Tower, which is at
the distance of six hundred furlongs from this place; and yet four hours
of this day are over already; which point of time renders the prediction
impossible to be fill filled." And when the old man had said this, he
was dejected in his mind, and so continued. But in a little time news
came that Antigonus was slain in a subterraneous place, which was itself
also called Strato's Tower, by the same name with that Cesarea which lay
by the sea-side; and this ambiguity it was which caused the prophet's
disorder.
6. Hereupon Aristobulus repented of the great crime he had been guilty
of, and this gave occasion to the increase of his distemper. He also
grew worse and worse, and his soul was constantly disturbed at the
thoughts of what he had done, till his very bowels being torn to pieces
by the intolerable grief he was under, he threw up a great quantity of
blood. And as one of those servants that attended him carried out that
blood, he, by some supernatural providence, slipped and fell down in the
very place where Antigonus had been slain; and so he spilt some of
the murderer's blood upon the spots of the blood of him that had been
murdered, which still appeared. Hereupon a lamentable cry arose among
the spectators, as if the servant had spilled the blood on purpose in
that place; and as the king heard that cry, he inquired what was the
cause of it; and while nobody durst tell him, he pressed them so much
the more to let him know what was the matter; so at length, when he had
threatened them, and forced them to speak out, they told; whereupon he
burst into tears, and groaned, and said, "So I perceive I am not like
to escape the all-seeing eye of God, as to the great crimes I have
committed; but the vengeance of the blood of my kinsman pursues me
hastily. O thou most impudent body! how long wilt thou retain a soul
that ought to die on account of that punishment it ought to suffer for a
mother and a brother slain! How long shall I myself spend my blood drop
by drop? let them take it all at once; and let their ghosts no longer be
disappointed by a few parcels of my bowels offered to them." As soon
as he had said these words, he presently died, when he had reigned no
longer than a year.