Herod By Caesars Direction Accuses His Sons At Eurytus. They
Are Not Produced Before The Courts But Yet Are Condemned;
And In A Little Time They Are Sent To Sebaste, And Strangled
There.
1. Moreover, Salome exasperated Herod's cruelty against his sons; for
Aristobulus was desirous to bring her, who was his mother-in-law and his
aunt, into the like dangers with themselves; so he sent to her to take
care of her own safety, and told her that the king was preparing to put
her to death, on account of the accusation that was laid against her, as
if when she formerly endeavored to marry herself to Sylleus the Arabian,
she had discovered the king's grand secrets to him, who was the king's
enemy; and this it was that came as the last storm, and entirely sunk
the young men when they were in great danger before. For Salome came
running to the king, and informed him of what admonition had been given
her; whereupon he could bear no longer, but commanded both the young
men to be bound, and kept the one asunder from the other. He also sent
Volumnius, the general of his army, to Caesar immediately, as also his
friend Olympus with him, who carried the informations in writing along
with them. Now as soon as they had sailed to Rome, and delivered the
king's letters to Caesar, Caesar was mightily troubled at the case of
the young men; yet did not he think he ought to take the power from the
father of condemning his sons; so he wrote back to him, and appointed
him to have the power over his sons; but said withal, that he would do
well to make an examination into this matter of the plot against him in
a public court, and to take for his assessors his own kindred, and the
governors of the province. And if those sons be found guilty, to put
them to death; but if they appear to have thought of no more than flying
away from him, that he should moderate their punishment.
2. With these directions Herod complied, and came to Berytus, where
Caesar had ordered the court to be assembled, and got the judicature
together. The presidents sat first, as Caesar's letters had appointed,
who were Saturninus and Pedanius, and their lieutenants that were with
them, with whom was the procurator Volumnius also; next to them sat the
king's kinsmen and friends, with Salome also, and Pheroras; after whom
sat the principal men of all Syria, excepting Archelaus; for Herod had a
suspicion of him, because he was Alexander's father-in-law. Yet did not
he produce his sons in open court; and this was done very cunningly,
for he knew well enough that had they but appeared only, they would
certainly have been pitied; and if withal they had been suffered to
speak, Alexander would easily have answered what they were accused of;
but they were in custody at Platane, a village of the Sidontans.
3. So the king got up, and inveighed against his sons, as if they were
present; and as for that part of the accusation that they had plotted
against him, he urged it but faintly, because he was destitute of
proofs; but he insisted before the assessors on the reproaches, and
jests, and injurious carriage, and ten thousand the like offenses
against him, which were heavier than death itself; and when nobody
contradicted him, he moved them to pity his case, as though he had been
condemned himself, now he had gained a bitter victory against his sons.
So he asked every one's sentence, which sentence was first of all given
by Saturninus, and was this: That he condemned the young men, but not
to death; for that it was not fit for him, who had three sons of his
own now present, to give his vote for the destruction of the sons of
another. The two lieutenants also gave the like vote; some others there
were also who followed their example; but Volumnius began to vote on the
more melancholy side, and all those that came after him condemned the
young men to die, some out of flattery, and some out of hatred to Herod;
but none out of indignation at their crimes. And now all Syria and Judea
was in great expectation, and waited for the last act of this tragedy;
yet did nobody, suppose that Herod would be so barbarous as to murder
his children: however, he carried them away to Tyre, and thence sailed
to Cesarea, and deliberated with himself what sort of death the young
men should suffer.
4. Now there was a certain old soldier of the king's, whose name
was Tero, who had a son that was very familiar with and a friend to
Alexander, and who himself particularly loved the young men. This
soldier was in a manner distracted, out of the excess of the indignation
he had at what was doing; and at first he cried out aloud, as he went
about, that justice was trampled under foot; that truth was perished,
and nature confounded; and that the life of man was full of iniquity,
and every thing else that passion could suggest to a man who spared
not his own life; and at last he ventured to go to the king, and said,
"Truly I think thou art a most miserable man, when thou hearkenest to
most wicked wretches, against those that ought to be dearest to thee;
since thou hast frequently resolved that Pheroras and Salome should be
put to death, and yet believest them against thy sons; while these,
by cutting off the succession of thine own sons, leave all wholly
to Antipater, and thereby choose to have thee such a king as may be
thoroughly in their own power. However, consider whether this death of
Antipater's brethren will not make him hated by the soldiers; for there
is nobody but commiserates the young men; and of the captains, a great
many show their indignation at it openly." Upon his saying this, he
named those that had such indignation; but the king ordered those men,
with Tero himself and his son, to be seized upon immediately.
5. At which time there was a certain barber, whose name was Trypho. This
man leaped out from among the people in a kind of madness, and accused
himself, and said, "This Tero endeavored to persuade me also to cut thy
throat with my razor, when I trimmed thee, and promised that Alexander
should give me large presents for so doing." When Herod heard this, he
examined Tero, with his son and the barber, by the torture; but as the
others denied the accusation, and he said nothing further, Herod gave
order that Tero should be racked more severely; but his son, out of pity
to his father, promised to discover the whole to the king, if he would
grant [that his father should be no longer tortured]. When he had agreed
to this, he said that his father, at the persuasion of Alexander, had an
intention to kill him. Now some said this was forged, in order to free
his father from his torments; and some said it was true.
6. And now Herod accused the captains and Tero in an assembly of the
people, and brought the people together in a body against them; and
accordingly there were they put to death, together with [Trypho] the
barber; they were killed by the pieces of wood and the stones that were
thrown at them. He also sent his sons to Sebaste, a city not far from
Cesarea, and ordered them to be there strangled; and as what he had
ordered was executed immediately, so he commanded that their dead
bodies should be brought to the fortress Alexandrium, to be buried with
Alexander, their grandfather by the mother's side. And this was the end
of Alexander and Aristobulus.