Herod Takes Sepphoris And Subdues The Robbers That Were In
The Caves; He After That Avenges Himself Upon Machaerus, As
Upon An Enemy Of His And Goes To Antony As He Was Besieging
Samosata.
1. So the Romans lived in plenty of all things, and rested from war.
However, Herod did not lie at rest, but seized upon Idumea, and kept it,
with two thousand footmen, and four hundred horsemen; and this he did by
sending his brother Joseph thither, that no innovation might be made by
Antigonus. He also removed his mother, and all his relations, who had
been in Masada, to Samaria; and when he had settled them securely, he
marched to take the remaining parts of Galilee, and to drive away the
garrisons placed there by Antigonus.
2. But when Herod had reached Sepphoris, 23 in a very great snow, he
took the city without any difficulty; the guards that should have kept
it flying away before it was assaulted; where he gave an opportunity
to his followers that had been in distress to refresh themselves, there
being in that city a great abundance of necessaries. After which he
hasted away to the robbers that were in the caves, who overran a great
part of the country, and did as great mischief to its inhabitants as
a war itself could have done. Accordingly, he sent beforehand three
cohorts of footmen, and one troop of horsemen, to the village Arbela,
and came himself forty days afterwards 24 with the rest of his forces
Yet were not the enemy affrighted at his assault but met him in arms;
for their skill was that of warriors, but their boldness was the
boldness of robbers: when therefore it came to a pitched battle,
they put to flight Herod's left wing with their right one; but Herod,
wheeling about on the sudden from his own right wing, came to their
assistance, and both made his own left wing return back from its flight,
and fell upon the pursuers, and cooled their courage, till they could
not bear the attempts that were made directly upon them, and so turned
back and ran away. 3. But Herod followed them, and slew them as he
followed them, and destroyed a great part of them, till those that
remained were scattered beyond the river [Jordan;] and Galilee was
freed from the terrors they had been under, excepting from those that
remained, and lay concealed in caves, which required longer time ere
they could be conquered. In order to which Herod, in the first place,
distributed the fruits of their former labors to the soldiers, and gave
every one of them a hundred and fifty drachmae of silver, and a great
deal more to their commanders, and sent them into their winter quarters.
He also sent to his youngest brother Pheroas, to take care of a good
market for them, where they might buy themselves provisions, and to
build a wall about Alexandrium; who took care of both those injunctions
accordingly.
4. In the mean time Antony abode at Athens, while Ventidius called for
Silo and Herod to come to the war against the Parthians, but ordered
them first to settle the affairs of Judea; so Herod willingly dismissed
Silo to go to Ventidius, but he made an expedition himself against those
that lay in the caves. Now these caves were in the precipices of craggy
mountains, and could not be come at from any side, since they had only
some winding pathways, very narrow, by which they got up to them; but
the rock that lay on their front had beneath it valleys of a vast depth,
and of an almost perpendicular declivity; insomuch that the king
was doubtful for a long time what to do, by reason of a kind of
impossibility there was of attacking the place. Yet did he at length
make use of a contrivance that was subject to the utmost hazard; for he
let down the most hardy of his men in chests, and set them at the mouths
of the dens. Now these men slew the robbers and their families, and when
they made resistance, they sent in fire upon them [and burnt them]; and
as Herod was desirous of saving some of them, he had proclamation made,
that they should come and deliver themselves up to him; but not one of
them came willingly to him; and of those that were compelled to come,
many preferred death to captivity. And here a certain old man, the
father of seven children, whose children, together with their mother,
desired him to give them leave to go out, upon the assurance and right
hand that was offered them, slew them after the following manner: He
ordered every one of them to go out, while he stood himself at the
cave's mouth, and slew that son of his perpetually who went out. Herod
was near enough to see this sight, and his bowels of compassion were
moved at it, and he stretched out his right hand to the old man, and
besought him to spare his children; yet did not he relent at all upon
what he said, but over and above reproached Herod on the lowness of
his descent, and slew his wife as well as his children; and when he had
thrown their dead bodies down the precipice, he at last threw himself
down after them.
5. By this means Herod subdued these caves, and the robbers that were
in them. He then left there a part of his army, as many as he thought
sufficient to prevent any sedition, and made Ptolemy their general, and
returned to Samaria; he led also with him three thousand armed footmen,
and six hundred horsemen, against Antigonus. Now here those that used
to raise tumults in Galilee, having liberty so to do upon his departure,
fell unexpectedly upon Ptolemy, the general of his forces, and slew him;
they also laid the country waste, and then retired to the bogs, and
to places not easily to be found. But when Herod was informed of this
insurrection, he came to the assistance of the country immediately, and
destroyed a great number of the seditions, and raised the sieges of all
those fortresses they had besieged; he also exacted the tribute of a
hundred talents of his enemies, as a penalty for the mutations they had
made in the country.
6. By this time [the Parthians being already driven out of the country,
and Pacorus slain] Ventidius, by Antony's command, sent a thousand
horsemen, and two legions, as auxiliaries to Herod, against Antigonus.
Now Antigonus besought Machaerus, who was their general, by letter, to
come to his assistance, and made a great many mournful complaints about
Herod's violence, and about the injuries he did to the kingdom; and
promised to give him money for such his assistance; but he complied not
with his invitation to betray his trust, for he did not contemn him that
sent him, especially while Herod gave him more money [than the other
offered]. So he pretended friendship to Antigonus, but came as a spy to
discover his affairs; although he did not herein comply with Herod, who
dissuaded him from so doing. But Antigonus perceived what his intentions
were beforehand, and excluded him out of the city, and defended himself
against him as against an enemy, from the walls; till Machaerus was
ashamed of what he had done, and retired to Emmaus to Herod; and as he
was in a rage at his disappointment, he slew all the Jews whom he met
with, without sparing those that were for Herod, but using them all as
if they were for Antigonus.
7. Hereupon Herod was very angry at him, and was going to fight against
Machaerus as his enemy; but he restrained his indignation, and marched
to Antony to accuse Machaerus of maladministration. But Machaerus was
made sensible of his offenses, and followed after the king immediately,
and earnestly begged and obtained that he would be reconciled to him.
However, Herod did not desist from his resolution of going to Antony;
but when he heard that he was besieging Samosata 25 with a great army,
which is a strong city near to Euphrates, he made the greater haste;
as observing that this was a proper opportunity for showing at once his
courage, and for doing what would greatly oblige Antony. Indeed, when he
came, he soon made an end of that siege, and slew a great number of the
barbarians, and took from them a large prey; insomuch that Antony, who
admired his courage formerly, did now admire it still more. Accordingly,
he heaped many more honors upon him, and gave him more assured hopes
that he should gain his kingdom; and now king Antiochus was forced to
deliver up Samosata.