Alexander, The Son Of Aristobulus, Who Ran Away From Pompey,
Makes An Expedition Against Hyrcanus; But Being Overcome By
Gabinius He Delivers Up The Fortresses To Him. After This
Aristobulus Escapes From Rome And Gathers An Army Together;
But Being Beaten By The Romans, He Is Brought Back To Rome;
With Other Things Relating To Gabinius, Crassus And Cassius.
1. In the mean time, Scaurus made an expedition into Arabia, but was
stopped by the difficulty of the places about Petra. However, he laid
waste the country about Pella, though even there he was under great
hardship; for his army was afflicted with famine. In order to supply
which want, Hyrcanus afforded him some assistance, and sent him
provisions by the means of Antipater; whom also Scaurus sent to Aretas,
as one well acquainted with him, to induce him to pay him money to buy
his peace. The king of Arabia complied with the proposal, and gave him
three hundred talents; upon which Scaurus drew his army out of Arabia 10
2. But as for Alexander, that son of Aristobulus who ran away from
Pompey, in some time he got a considerable band of men together, and lay
heavy upon Hyrcanus, and overran Judea, and was likely to overturn
him quickly; and indeed he had come to Jerusalem, and had ventured to
rebuild its wall that was thrown down by Pompey, had not Gabinius, who
was sent as successor to Scaurus into Syria, showed his bravery, as in
many other points, so in making an expedition against Alexander; who, as
he was afraid that he would attack him, so he got together a large army,
composed of ten thousand armed footmen, and fifteen hundred horsemen.
He also built walls about proper places; Alexandrium, and Hyrcanium, and
Machaerus, that lay upon the mountains of Arabia.
3. However, Gabinius sent before him Marcus Antonius, and followed
himself with his whole army; but for the select body of soldiers that
were about Antipater, and another body of Jews under the command of
Malichus and Pitholaus, these joined themselves to those captains
that were about Marcus Antonius, and met Alexander; to which body came
Gabinius with his main army soon afterward; and as Alexander was not
able to sustain the charge of the enemies' forces, now they were joined,
he retired. But when he was come near to Jerusalem, he was forced to
fight, and lost six thousand men in the battle; three thousand of which
fell down dead, and three thousand were taken alive; so he fled with the
remainder to Alexandrium.
4. Now when Gabinius was come to Alexandrium, because he found a great
many there en-camped, he tried, by promising them pardon for their
former offenses, to induce them to come over to him before it came to a
fight; but when they would hearken to no terms of accommodation, he
slew a great number of them, and shut up a great number of them in the
citadel. Now Marcus Antonius, their leader, signalized himself in this
battle, who, as he always showed great courage, so did he never show it
so much as now; but Gabinius, leaving forces to take the citadel, went
away himself, and settled the cities that had not been demolished,
and rebuilt those that had been destroyed. Accordingly, upon his
injunctions, the following cities were restored: Scythopolis, and
Samaria, and Anthedon, and Apollonia, and Jamnia, and Raphia, and
Mariassa, and Adoreus, and Gamala, and Ashdod, and many others; while
a great number of men readily ran to each of them, and became their
inhabitants.
5. When Gabinius had taken care of these cities, he returned to
Alexandrium, and pressed on the siege. So when Alexander despaired of
ever obtaining the government, he sent ambassadors to him, and prayed
him to forgive what he had offended him in, and gave up to him the
remaining fortresses, Hyrcanium and Machaerus, as he put Alexandrium
into his hands afterwards; all which Gabinius demolished, at the
persuasion of Alexander's mother, that they might not be receptacles of
men in a second war. She was now there in order to mollify Gabinius, out
of her concern for her relations that were captives at Rome, which were
her husband and her other children. After this Gabinius brought Hyrcanus
to Jerusalem, and committed the care of the temple to him; but ordained
the other political government to be by an aristocracy. He also parted
the whole nation into five conventions, assigning one portion to
Jerusalem, another to Gadara, that another should belong to Amathus, a
fourth to Jericho, and to the fifth division was allotted Sepphoris,
a city of Galilee. So the people were glad to be thus freed from
monarchical government, and were governed for the future by all
aristocracy.
6. Yet did Aristobulus afford another foundation for new disturbances.
He fled away from Rome, and got together again many of the Jews that
were desirous of a change, such as had borne an affection to him of old;
and when he had taken Alexandrium in the first place, he attempted to
build a wall about it; but as soon as Gabinius had sent an army against
him under Siscuria, and Antonius, and Servilius, he was aware of it,
and retreated to Machaerus. And as for the unprofitable multitude, he
dismissed them, and only marched on with those that were armed, being to
the number of eight thousand, among whom was Pitholaus, who had been the
lieutenant at Jerusalem, but deserted to Aristobulus with a thousand
of his men; so the Romans followed him, and when it came to a battle,
Aristobulus's party for a long time fought courageously; but at length
they were overborne by the Romans, and of them five thousand fell down
dead, and about two thousand fled to a certain little hill, but the
thousand that remained with Aristobulus brake through the Roman army,
and marched together to Machaerus; and when the king had lodged the
first night upon its ruins, he was in hopes of raising another army, if
the war would but cease a while; accordingly, he fortified that strong
hold, though it was done after a poor manner. But the Romans falling
upon him, he resisted, even beyond his abilities, for two days, and then
was taken, and brought a prisoner to Gabinius, with Antigonus his son,
who had fled away together with him from Rome; and from Gabinius he was
carried to Rome again. Wherefore the senate put him under confinement,
but returned his children back to Judea, because Gabinius informed them
by letters that he had promised Aristobulus's mother to do so, for her
delivering the fortresses up to him.
7. But now as Gabinius was marching to the war against the Parthians,
he was hindered by Ptolemy, whom, upon his return from Euphrates, he
brought back into Egypt, making use of Hyrcanus and Antipater to provide
every thing that was necessary for this expedition; for Antipater
furnished him with money, and weapons, and corn, and auxiliaries; he
also prevailed with the Jews that were there, and guarded the avenues at
Pelusium, to let them pass. But now, upon Gabinius's absence, the other
part of Syria was in motion, and Alexander, the son of Aristobulus,
brought the Jews to revolt again. Accordingly, he got together a very
great army, and set about killing all the Romans that were in the
country; hereupon Gabinius was afraid, [for he was come back already out
of Egypt, and obliged to come back quickly by these tumults,] and
sent Antipater, who prevailed with some of the revolters to be quiet.
However, thirty thousand still continued with Alexander, who was himself
eager to fight also; accordingly, Gabinius went out to fight, when
the Jews met him; and as the battle was fought near Mount Tabor, ten
thousand of them were slain, and the rest of the multitude dispersed
themselves, and fled away. So Gabinius came to Jerusalem, and settled
the government as Antipater would have it; thence he marched, and fought
and beat the Nabateans: as for Mithridates and Orsanes, who fled out of
Parthin, he sent them away privately, but gave it out among the soldiers
that they had run away.
8. In the mean time, Crassus came as successor to Gabinius in Syria. He
took away all the rest of the gold belonging to the temple of Jerusalem,
in order to furnish himself for his expedition against the Parthians.
He also took away the two thousand talents which Pompey had not touched;
but when he had passed over Euphrates, he perished himself, and his army
with him; concerning which affairs this is not a proper time to speak
[more largely].
9. But now Cassius, after Crassus, put a stop to the Parthians, who were
marching in order to enter Syria. Cassius had fled into that province,
and when he had taken possession of the same, he made a hasty march into
Judea; and, upon his taking Taricheae, he carried thirty thousand Jews
into slavery. He also slew Pitholaus, who had supported the seditious
followers of Aristobulus; and it was Antipater who advised him so to
do. Now this Antipater married a wife of an eminent family among the
Arabisus, whose name was Cypros, and had four sons born to him by her,
Phasaelus and Herod, who was afterwards king, and, besides these, Joseph
and Pheroras; and he had a daughter whose name was Salome. Now as he
made himself friends among the men of power every where, by the kind
offices he did them, and the hospitable manner that he treated them;
so did he contract the greatest friendship with the king of Arabia, by
marrying his relation; insomuch that when he made war with Aristobulus,
he sent and intrusted his children with him. So when Cassius had forced
Alexander to come to terms and to be quiet, he returned to Euphrates,
in order to prevent the Parthians from repassing it; concerning which
matter we shall speak elsewhere. 11