Caesar Makes Antipater Procurator Of Judea; As Does
Antipater Appoint Phasaelus To Be Governor Of Jerusalem, And
Herod Governor Of Galilee; Who, In Some Time, Was Called To
Answer For Himself [Before The Sanhedrim], Where He Is
Acquitted. Sextus Caesar Is Treacherously Killed By Bassus
And Is Succeeded By Marcus.
1. About this time it was that Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus,
came to Caesar, and became, in a surprising manner, the occasion of
Antipater's further advancement; for whereas he ought to have lamented
that his father appeared to have been poisoned on account of his
quarrels with Pompey, and to have complained of Scipio's barbarity
towards his brother, and not to mix any invidious passion when he
was suing for mercy; besides those things, he came before Caesar, and
accused Hyrcanus and Antipater, how they had driven him and his brethren
entirely out of their native country, and had acted in a great many
instances unjustly and extravagantly with relation to their nation; and
that as to the assistance they had sent him into Egypt, it was not done
out of good-will to him, but out of the fear they were in from former
quarrels, and in order to gain pardon for their friendship to [his
enemy] Pompey.
2. Hereupon Antipater threw away his garments, and showed the multitude
of the wounds he had, and said, that as to his good-will to Caesar, he
had no occasion to say a word, because his body cried aloud, though he
said nothing himself; that he wondered at Antigonus's boldness, while
he was himself no other than the son of an enemy to the Romans, and of
a fugitive, and had it by inheritance from his father to be fond of
innovations and seditions, that he should undertake to accuse other
men before the Roman governor, and endeavor to gain some advantages to
himself, when he ought to be contented that he was suffered to live;
for that the reason of his desire of governing public affairs was not so
much because he was in want of it, but because, if he could once obtain
the same, he might stir up a sedition among the Jews, and use what he
should gain from the Romans to the disservice of those that gave it him.
3. When Caesar heard this, he declared Hyrcanus to be the most worthy
of the high priesthood, and gave leave to Antipater to choose what
authority he pleased; but he left the determination of such dignity to
him that bestowed the dignity upon him; so he was constituted procurator
of all Judea, and obtained leave, moreover, to rebuild 12 those walls of
his country that had been thrown down. These honorary grants Caesar sent
orders to have engraved in the Capitol, that they might stand there as
indications of his own justice, and of the virtue of Antipater.
4. But as soon as Antipater had conducted Caesar out of Syria he
returned to Judea, and the first thing he did was to rebuild that wall
of his own country [Jerusalem] which Pompey had overthrown, and then to
go over the country, and to quiet the tumults that were therein; where
he partly threatened, and partly advised, every one, and told them
that in case they would submit to Hyrcanus, they would live happily and
peaceably, and enjoy what they possessed, and that with universal peace
and quietness; but that in case they hearkened to such as had some
frigid hopes by raising new troubles to get themselves some gain, they
should then find him to be their lord instead of their procurator; and
find Hyrcanus to be a tyrant instead of a king; and both the Romans and
Caesar to be their enemies, instead of rulers; for that they would not
suffer him to be removed from the government, whom they had made their
governor. And, at the same time that he said this, he settled the
affairs of the country by himself, because he saw that Hyrcanus was
inactive, and not fit to manage the affairs of the kingdom. So he
constituted his eldest son, Phasaelus, governor of Jerusalem, and of the
parts about it; he also sent his next son, Herod, who was very young, 13
with equal authority into Galilee.
5. Now Herod was an active man, and soon found proper materials for his
active spirit to work upon. As therefore he found that Hezekias, the
head of the robbers, ran over the neighboring parts of Syria with a
great band of men, he caught him and slew him, and many more of the
robbers with him; which exploit was chiefly grateful to the Syrians,
insomuch that hymns were sung in Herod's commendation, both in the
villages and in the cities, as having procured their quietness, and
having preserved what they possessed to them; on which occasion he
became acquainted with Sextus Caesar, a kinsman of the great Caesar,
and president of Syria. A just emulation of his glorious actions excited
Phasaelus also to imitate him. Accordingly, he procured the good-will of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, by his own management of the city affairs,
and did not abuse his power in any disagreeable manner; whence it came
to pass that the nation paid Antipater the respects that were due only
to a king, and the honors they all yielded him were equal to the honors
due to an absolute lord; yet did he not abate any part of that good-will
or fidelity which he owed to Hyrcanus.
6. However, he found it impossible to escape envy in such his
prosperity; for the glory of these young men affected even Hyrcanus
himself already privately, though he said nothing of it to any body; but
what he principally was grieved at was the great actions of Herod, and
that so many messengers came one before another, and informed him of the
great reputation he got in all his undertakings. There were also many
people in the royal palace itself who inflamed his envy at him; those, I
mean, who were obstructed in their designs by the prudence either of
the young men, or of Antipater. These men said, that by committing the
public affairs to the management of Antipater and of his sons, he
sat down with nothing but the bare name of a king, without any of its
authority; and they asked him how long he would so far mistake himself,
as to breed up kings against his own interest; for that they did not now
conceal their government of affairs any longer, but were plainly lords
of the nation, and had thrust him out of his authority; that this was
the case when Herod slew so many men without his giving him any command
to do it, either by word of mouth, or by his letter, and this in
contradiction to the law of the Jews; who therefore, in case he be not a
king, but a private man, still ought to come to his trial, and answer it
to him, and to the laws of his country, which do not permit any one to
be killed till he hath been condemned in judgment.
7. Now Hyrcanus was, by degrees, inflamed with these discourses, and at
length could bear no longer, but he summoned Herod to take his trial.
Accordingly, by his father's advice, and as soon as the affairs of
Galilee would give him leave, he came up to [Jerusalem], when he had
first placed garrisons in Galilee; however, he came with a sufficient
body of soldiers, so many indeed that he might not appear to have with
him an army able to overthrow Hyrcanus's government, nor yet so few as
to expose him to the insults of those that envied him. However, Sextus
Caesar was in fear for the young man, lest he should be taken by
his enemies, and brought to punishment; so he sent some to denounce
expressly to Hyrcanus that he should acquit Herod of the capital charge
against him; who acquitted him accordingly, as being otherwise inclined
also so to do, for he loved Herod.
8. But Herod, supposing that he had escaped punishment without the
consent of the king, retired to Sextus, to Damascus, and got every thing
ready, in order not to obey him if he should summon him again; whereupon
those that were evil-disposed irritated Hyrcanus, and told him that
Herod was gone away in anger, and was prepared to make war upon him; and
as the king believed what they said, he knew not what to do, since he
saw his antagonist was stronger than he was himself. And now, since
Herod was made general of Coelesyria and Samaria by Sextus Caesar, he
was formidable, not only from the good-will which the nation bore him,
but by the power he himself had; insomuch that Hyrcanus fell into the
utmost degree of terror, and expected he would presently march against
him with his army.
9. Nor was he mistaken in the conjecture he made; for Herod got his army
together, out of the anger he bare him for his threatening him with the
accusation in a public court, and led it to Jerusalem, in order to throw
Hyrcanus down from his kingdom; and this he had soon done, unless his
father and brother had gone out together and broken the force of his
fury, and this by exhorting him to carry his revenge no further than to
threatening and affrighting, but to spare the king, under whom he had
been advanced to such a degree of power; and that he ought not to be so
much provoked at his being tried, as to forget to be thankful that
he was acquitted; nor so long to think upon what was of a melancholy
nature, as to be ungrateful for his deliverance; and if we ought to
reckon that God is the arbitrator of success in war, an unjust cause
is of more disadvantage than an army can be of advantage; and that
therefore he ought not to be entirely confident of success in a case
where he is to fight against his king, his supporter, and one that had
often been his benefactor, and that had never been severe to him, any
otherwise than as he had hearkened to evil counselors, and this no
further than by bringing a shadow of injustice upon him. So Herod was
prevailed upon by these arguments, and supposed that what he had already
done was sufficient for his future hopes, and that he had enough shown
his power to the nation.
10. In the mean time, there was a disturbance among the Romans about
Apamia, and a civil war occasioned by the treacherous slaughter of
Sextus Caesar, by Cecilius Bassus, which he perpetrated out of his
good-will to Pompey; he also took the authority over his forces; but as
the rest of Caesar's commanders attacked Bassus with their whole army,
in order to punish him for the murder of Caesar, Antipater also sent
them assistance by his sons, both on account of him that was murdered,
and on account of that Caesar who was still alive, both of which were
their friends; and as this war grew to be of a considerable length,
Marcus came out of Italy as successor to Sextus.